No fish with chips in Edwardian St Neots

By Peter Ibbett

St. Neots is a riverside town, where back in Edwardian times, a 1905 Guide extolled its attractions to those who liked to while away the hours on its banks hoping to catch the ‘big one.’ (Back in 2012, a stroll by the Pocket Park next to the Eaton Socon Great Ouse would enable you to encounter the ‘big one’ on land! The guide stated that:- ‘every angler worthy the name must know the Ouse; to all such it is a most attractive stream:- in the several seasons pike, perch, bream, chub, roach, rudd, dace, gudgeon and eel challenge his skill to tempt them from its waters.’ For most other pre-Great War folk fish were one of their sources of food. Today you cannot walk ten or twenty yards in St. Neots without being tempted by a fast food emporium encouraging you to add to the overweight statistics of 21st century health. A far cry from my grandfather’s day when it was plentiful pubs that tempted you off the street and into drunkenness. Jeffrey du Cann Grenfell-Hill’s 1980’s ‘Edwardian Childhood in St. Neots’ provides us with an insight into the fish and chip habits of the senior citizens he interviewed about their Edwardian childhood memories :“In St. Neots there was only one fish and chip shop serving the whole town. Emmaline Ashley recalled that her mother always lightly fried her own fish, usually cod or haddock and only sent out for chips. A h’porth of chips would be sufficient for two people. The only chip shop in town was always busy, but Emmaline thought it was mostly chips they sold and mothers prepared their own fish at home. She suggested that as fat was expensive, the deep frying of chips was not usually done at home as it was cheaper to send out for them. Ivy Shepherd maintained that a meal of fish and chips was regarded as a special treat. She would be sent for two penn’worth of chips. Dick Ashton was not used to having fish and chips at all as there was no shop in his village. The only chance the villagers had of buying fresh fish was when the fishmongers in St. Neots sent a pony and cart around the villages late on Saturday night to sell off as much fish as possible. There was no refrigeration and the cart usually got to Great Paxton around ten o’clock at night. People would come out of the pub to buy the fish, and the driver was usually drunk himself by this time!” Perhaps you have memories of the days before supermarkets and instant meals on wheels that will open the eyes of future generations to the eating habits of the early 21st century. Do let the Museum know and don’t forget to visit its shop and exhibitions when it reopens after its winter break.