Blakeley's of Brighouse: batter, banter and nearly 40 years of fish and chips
There are some smells that just mean home. Vinegar hitting hot chips is one of them. So when Blakeley's of Brighouse came up on my list, I didn't need much persuading.
f you're new here, here's the quick catch-up. Brighouse BID asked me to photograph 36 businesses around the town, and the brief was to tell each one's story through the people who run it. I wasn't just there for the shopfront and the menu. I was there for the faces behind the counter.
Family run since 1987
There's a sign on the wall behind the range that says it all: Family run since 1987. That's nearly 40 years of feeding Brighouse, and you can tell. Nothing about the place is trying too hard. It just knows what it's doing.
You'll find Blakeley's on Canal Street. It's a proper Yorkshire stone building with a white rose flag hanging in the upstairs window and separate doors marked Entrance and Exit. Follow the signs. They mean it.
The people behind the counter
This is the bit I came for. Jane was behind the counter, chatting to every customer like she'd known them for years. She probably had.
I've photographed a lot of people over the years, and I don't think I've ever met anyone so happy to have their picture taken. Most people need a few minutes to forget the camera's there. Jane was ready before I'd even got it out of the bag, and that kind of energy makes my job very easy.
Then there was Andy Blakeley, one of the family behind the name above the door, working the range. Every time I pointed the camera at the counter, someone in the background was laughing, and it was nearly always him. You can't stage that kind of thing. You just have to be standing in the right place when it happens.
I shot this one through the hot cabinet, with a fresh fish on its way to join the others. He clocked me straight away.
That's what people buy into at a local chippy. The food has to be good, obviously. But the reason you keep going back to the same one for years is the people serving it.
Hand-dipped and fried fresh
I could have spent all day photographing the frying. Andy dips each fish by hand into a tray of batter, then it goes straight into the range, where it fizzes and puffs up into that crisp golden shell.
And yes, there are scraps. Plenty of them. If you know, you know.
They do gluten-free batter too, so nobody has to sit this one out. If you fancy something lighter, there's steamed fish with salad on the menu as well.
Eat in or take it home
Blakeley's isn't just a takeaway. Behind the counter there's a bright, airy restaurant that seats around 50. There are booths along the walls and a Yorkshire Tea painting on display, plus salt, vinegar and sauce on every table. It's the kind of place where you can bring the grandparents and the kids and everyone's happy.
If you're getting it to take away, it comes in a box with the fish laid across a pile of chips. With a can of dandelion and burdock on the side, it's about as Yorkshire as it gets.
Why I love shooting places like this
I've been creating brand photographs for over 20 years, and independent businesses are still my favourite thing to shoot. With somewhere like Blakeley's you need both halves of the story. One half is the people, like Jane's enthusiasm and Andy's laugh. The other half is the thing they actually do, which here is fish going into the batter and chips coming out of the range. Get both and the photos do the selling for you.
If you run an independent business in Brighouse, Huddersfield or anywhere in West Yorkshire, and your photos don't show who you are, let's have a chat.
This post is part of my Brighouse BID series, telling the stories of 36 businesses across Brighouse. If you missed the last one, have a look inside [King Street Pets], a family-run pet shop on King Street.