To visitors unfamiliar with Spalding, Turner’s Fish Restaurant is a welcoming haven that serves fresh and crispy fish and chips for the best price in town.
To Spalding folk, the Red Lion Street chippie that’s celebrating 100 years in business this year is simply ‘Sheddy’s’.
There’s been a Sheddy frying fish on the same spot at the corner with New Road since Fred ‘Sheddy’ Turner bought an old poultry and game dealer’s shop there in 1913.
The origin of the family nickname is a mystery and today’s Sheddy, Fred’s great-grandson Philip Hall, likes it that way.
“I’m the new Sheddy - it’s a bit like being Dr Who, the mystery’s all part of the fun,” he said.
A bag of chips to take away cost just one old penny in 1913, and there was a sit-in cafe downstairs from the beginning for the many customers who didn’t fancy eating in the street.
Comparing average incomes then and now, Sheddy’s takeaway and eat-in meals are just as reasonable today.
The restaurant serves an unusually wide variety of fish including halibut, salmon and even Rutland Water rainbow trout caught by Philip’s father George alongside Icelandic cod and haddock frozen on board ship within four hours of being hauled.
Philip was joined eight years ago by his cousin-in-law and partner, Andrew Freeman, to enable his father to retire. Also in Turner’s 22-strong workforce are Philip’s wife Julie and daughters Jordan and Cassie who represent the fifth generation.
Turners remains committed to marrying the finest fish with local Lincolnshire potatoes.
“We’re proud of our history and what we do and we know what makes us good is that we’re here – there won’t be a chain of Sheddy’s. We’re of the people, for the people.”