Skip to content

Fish and chip shop owner retires after 52 years

Gerry Paradiso Three people stood next to each other in front of the fryer. On the left in a pink apron, blue jeans and pink top is a woman with shoulder length light brown hair. She is holding a champagne flute glass. In the middle is a woman with short brown hair, in a grey zip up jumper and a black apron. She is also holding a champagne flute glass. On the right is a man with grey hair and a short beard. He is a wearing a light blue top with white stripes and a blue and white checkered apron. He is also holding a champagne flue glass. All three are looking directly at the camera. Gerry Paradiso
Gerry Paradiso said "working here has been very special"

A man who has owned a number of fish and chip shops in Jersey is retiring, after 52 years in the business.

Gerry Paradiso, 67, and his team at Gerry's Fish Bar in St Helier are closing up for the last time on Saturday night.

The business will be taken on by new owners from 14 April.

In a message to his customers, Mr Paradiso said: "It has been an incredible journey, and we are beyond grateful for each and every one of you."

'Hard for me'

"A lot of our customers are all sad about it," he said.

"We have some customers who were coming to our first place Angelos in New Street back in the 70s, and they're still coming here now."

He first owned a shop 49 years ago, but had already worked in the business for three years before that.

"The prospect of finishing is a bit hard for me at the moment as this is all I've been doing all my life," he said.

Gerry Paradiso A green building with a yellow door. there are two windows to the left of the door. On the window on the left there is an image of a burger and some small writing. On the window in the middle of the window and the door is an image of fish and chips. On both windows above the the images it says Gerry's Fish Bar in green writing. Gerry Paradiso
Mr Paradiso said the chip shop was becoming "too much" for him to run

He plans to continue running a bed and breakfast but said the chip shop was becoming "too much".

He said: "Part of it too is that to employ someone we need a five year licence, and not many people want to work in a chip shop."

'Has been wonderful'

He said: "We have three generations of customers who come to us... we had a relationship with our customers, chatting about the old days, it has been wonderful."

He plans to play more golf in his retirement, with his wife Gloria who represented Jersey for many years.

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [email protected].

More on this story