Fish and chip shop plan for Jamie Oliver's Southend Pier restaurant

5:00pm Tuesday 25th September 2012 in Echo News By David Trayner

A FISH and chip shop owner is interested in returning the traditional seaside fare to Southend Pier , once Jamie Oliver has finished using his old building.

Paul Van Looy, owner of VL’s cafe, under the pier, wants to reopen a chip shop in the building the celebrity chef is using to film Jamie and Jimmy’s Food Fight Club.

Mr Van Looy, who sold the shop five years ago, said: “I’d love to go back in there. The pier is lovely. It’s a different world.

“The pier misses it. The seaside and fish and chips just go together.

“If the council is looking for a tenant, I’d be up there tomorrow.”

Filming is scheduled to finish next month, before the show airs in November.

Derek Jarvis , Southend councillor responsible for culture and tourism, said several people had expressed interest in taking over the building since it was vacated, but no one had put pen to paper.

He said any future plans for it were put on hold once Mr Oliver asked to film there.

Mr Jarvis said: “It would be great if there were to be something to springboard out of this particular show.

“That end of the pier is getting quite a high profile. I’d like to see it properly used in a way that’s fitting with the character of the pierhead. We would like to see a maritime theme.”

Mr Jarvis would be happy to see Mr Oliver stay in the building. He said: “It would be great to think having enjoyed this time down here they would see it’s a very interesting location.”

Comments(15)

midgetman says...
5:42pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Trouble with that plan is that it will be a small captive client base, unless you are on the pier you are not going to visit it just for fish and chips.

As a businessman myself i would say its doomed to failure.

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marshman says...
5:55pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Mr Van Looy?

Surely you mean Councillor Van Looy.

Nothing wrong if an elected member identifies an opportunity and wants to do business with the council is there. After all, it'll create a few jobs and spread the money around a bit. Besides, it's one of the perks of the job isn't it.

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Audioman says...
7:40pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Oh no not yet another fish & chip shop in Southend,far too many as it is.

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tatersalad says...
7:43pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Audioman wrote:
Oh no not yet another fish & chip shop in Southend,far too many as it is.
Very few good ones though

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v.randy says...
7:47pm Tue 25 Sep 12

No one eats fish and chips anymore .
And no one wants this sort of food on the pier.
Which is why the last cafe shut ..cos no one goes down the pier

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SJJBEC01 says...
8:36pm Tue 25 Sep 12

possibly the most expensive fish and chips in the land it cost my family 2 adults and 3 children just under £13 and the the average cost of fish and chips and a can of fizzy pop not much change from £40 out of my price range plus its a very long way to go

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SJJBEC01 says...
8:38pm Tue 25 Sep 12

That is £13 to get to the end of the pier

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perini says...
8:43pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Mmm..wonder why he packed it in the first time round! Possibly not taking any money?

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APR says...
9:47pm Tue 25 Sep 12

v.randy wrote:
No one eats fish and chips anymore .
And no one wants this sort of food on the pier.
Which is why the last cafe shut ..cos no one goes down the pier
Is this a fact, or supposition ?

Lots of people still eat fish & chips, much cheaper, and better value than any other form of take-away.

A lot of people still go down the pier too.

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Nebs says...
10:10pm Tue 25 Sep 12

APR wrote:
v.randy wrote:
No one eats fish and chips anymore .
And no one wants this sort of food on the pier.
Which is why the last cafe shut ..cos no one goes down the pier
Is this a fact, or supposition ?

Lots of people still eat fish & chips, much cheaper, and better value than any other form of take-away.

A lot of people still go down the pier too.
If several people have expressed an interest, it would seem like an auction would be the fairest way to get the best return for local taxpayers.

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SARFENDMAN says...
6:12am Wed 26 Sep 12

Any use would be better than an empty building but an J Oliver would be original and more likely attract more to the Pierhead. The pier still lacks a fun element especially for families with youngsters. An Cultural Centre or rather an often empty school hall with stacked chairs is not exactly a fun palace.

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Bernard Manning says...
6:58am Wed 26 Sep 12

Of course the end of the Pier needs a fish’n’chip shop. But that won’t draw in the crowds in itself will it? It needs amusements for kids of all ages and a pub, McGinty’s was great. The Cultural Centre was an excellent idea and the building is handsome enough from the outside, but the internal space is just terrible and very restrictive. The Old Lady is a paradox, the longest pleasure pier in the world but where there is no pleasure to be found. You can’t even make your own fun - Jamie Oliver might have been famously conceived there but given the number of CCTV cameras unless you’ve got a certain brazen streak then there isn’t too much opportunity for that sort of thing either.

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DogsMessInLeigh says...
9:22am Wed 26 Sep 12

A Decent Coffee House with Cake and some amusements somewhere will do ok, Maybe Jamie will keep this place going and keep it to a standard with someone else running it, maybe make the regular visit...it could work.

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Dumbnut says...
9:38am Wed 26 Sep 12

perini wrote:
Mmm..wonder why he packed it in the first time round! Possibly not taking any money?
Maybe eyeing up another profit when he sells it on?, like all his other business ventures?. Fair play to him.

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v.randy says...
10:07am Thu 27 Sep 12

The piers only claim to fame is it's length....yawn!
In fact this is the piers downfall ,no one wants to have to get a train just for a bag of chips.If the pier was shorter it would be much more successful.
All successful piers are very short take Southwold.
This cafe is nearer the people of Kent then us here in Southend

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