Fish and chip shop rise has lasting impact on King’s Lynn

The town’s first fish and chip shop appears to have been established by John Devonshire, while other early fried fish dealers included Noah Chilvers, John and Jessie Beaty and George Pickard.

One well-known King’s Lynn “fish and chip hero” was Polly Goodson, of North End, “who helped many poorer local people through periods of hardship with her cheap and generous portions of a ‘piece and penn’th’”.

“Standards of cleanliness often were not all that thorough and cockroaches were to be expected in Polly Goodson’s shop,” Miss Western added.

Meanwhile, George Pickard’s fish and chip shop, which was on Purfleet between 1904 and 1933, backed right onto a water channel, which was little more than an open sewer.

Miss Western said: “It’s a fun and thought-provoking exhibition about how something that we now consider to be an everyday source of fast food actually provided a vital source of nutrition during the wars, enabled women to run their own businesses and had a lasting social impact.”

Fish and Chips Heroes is at True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum until 31 August.