A fish supper and a chippy smile
Subtitle: love, hardship and laughter in a South-East London fish-and-chip shop
By: Hilda Kemp and Cathryn Kemp
Contributors: Kemp, Cathryn, author
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 261
ISBN-13: 9781409158424
Subjects: Social conditions; Fast food restaurants; History
Description: In 1950s and 60s Bermondsey, the fish-and-chip shop was at the centre of the community. And at the heart of the chippy itself was 'Hooray' Hilda Kemp, a spirited matriarch who dispensed fish suppers and an abundance of sympathy to a now-vanished world of East Enders. For 'Hooray' Hilda knew all to well what it was like to feel real, aching hunger. Growing up in the slums of 1920s south-east London, the daughter of a violent alcoholic who drank away his wages rather than put food on the table, she could spot when a customer was in need and would sneak them an extra big portion of chips, on the house. With a cast of colourful characters - dirty ragamuffins, struggling housewives, rough-diamond gang members - Hilda's story is one of grit, romance, nostalgia and British endurance.