The Jolly Fryer returns to Godshill – tomorrow!

The Jolly Fryer mobile fish and chips returns to Godshill on Thursday 14 May. Currently they are going to operate from the main car park in Godshill – opposite the Griffin Pub and NOT the usual site in School Crescent.

The IoW Council have allowed them to operate from there in order that people can maintain a safe distance from each other. Their opening hours will, at present, stay the same, namely, 4:30pm to 7:00pm. If volume of business dictates they may stay longer. Time will tell.

You can place an advanced order by phone on a Thursday between 9:00am and 3:00pm. Simply phone them on 07968 351757 with your order and they’ll endeavour to have it ready for your collection at your requested time.

The following information is taken from their website:

SOCIAL DISTANCING. We will not be marking bays or lines on the ground to indicate safe distancing outside. Logistics simply don’t allow for this. When you walk to us, go for your daily constitutional etc you manage to stay apart from others. Please do the same whilst waiting for your order from us.

ON ARRIVAL AT THE VAN, before approaching the counter please look for the two pole signs. They will tell you the following.

– Please wait behind these signs until called forward.

– For phone order collections we shall call your name when it’s ready. No need for you to announce your arrival, we’ll assume you’re out there.

– If you haven’t phoned in advance and are waiting to order, again we shall attempt to take your order when we are ready. Please be patient and wait for us to ask for the next non phoned order to be placed.

– Phone order collections – when called forward, please place your payment in the receptacle on the counter. If you have the correct amount it will be much appreciated. Please then step back slightly.

– We shall put your change in the receptacle and your order on the counter, then step back ourselves.

– Step forward when we’ve retreated and collect your change and food.

– Repeat every week until we can stop being so impersonal!

All the above is new to us, and you. It won’t work like clockwork to start with, there will be cock ups. Our reason for reopening is not purely financial, we are trying to once again provide the service we’ve done for over 30 years and quite frankly like all business of our type we will not, in the near future, be as profitable as once we were.

But we’re hoping this return may provide a bit of sanity in a rather weird world right now. If at any time we consider it unsafe to carry on, or the Government thinks so we may suddenly close once again. We really hope we don’t have to but you, our customers, can help us here.

We closed in March even though we were lawfully allowed to stay open. We took this step because we were inundated by far too many people, many of whom we’d not seen for a long time, who appeared to be in a state of panic, not unlike that experienced by the food stores (remember panic buying?). This large amount of people, seemingly unable to realise this wasn’t going to be their last ever meal, made conditions unsafe for our older customers. So we closed simply to ensure those we wanted to protect stayed safe. We don’t want to have to do this again.

CLICK/TAP HERE for the Jolly Fryer website.

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