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Meet two English mums on a mission to introduce the people of Barcelona to Britain’s finest fare… fish and chips!
WORDS BY ZOE DARE HALL
 ITHIN THE FIRST FORTNIGHT OF OPENING ‘FISH AND CHIPS’, BARCELONA’S FIRST FORAY INTO BRITAIN’S FINEST CULINARY TRADITION, THE CHIPS WERE LOOKING DECIDEDLY DOWN.
“We were in a state of complete chaos,” admits Julie Stephenson, who, with her friend Julia Fossi, runs the Catalan city’s only chippy, just five minutes from Las Ramblas.
“The night before a big fashion show, where we had been asked to set up a £14,000 fish and chips stand the same week we opened the shop, our business partner quit,” she explains. “Then the immigration police appeared at the shop the next day to scrutinise everyone’s identity cards, and a few nights later at 2.30am, when the shutters were down, in walked the Mossos—the Catalan police,” Julie recounts.
Sensing they were in for a rough ride, the women waited with bated breath. “Chicken and mushroom pie with chips, please,” said the policeman with perfect pronunciation, the bonus of having one Catalan and one English parent.
“Like everyone else here, he was just intrigued to try out what we were serving,” says Julie, 43, who ran a bar in Liverpool, while Julia, 40, was in marketing in London, before they moved to Barcelona seven years ago.
After setting up a nanny service in the city, Tender Loving Canguros, the women seized upon the idea of running a fish and chip shop late one night, while trying to come up with money-making plans to ensure they need never leave Barcelona.
Fifteen months later, after an exhaustive search for a suitable site and endless bureaucratic hoops and blank faces involved in introducing the concept of battered cod and mushy peas to a traditional but trendy city that prides itself on being Spain’s culinary capital, Fish And Chips was born.
 Besides the joys of the usual chip shop fare —everything freshly battered, cut, peeled and cooked on the premises—the Catalans have also been initiated into the pleasures of crumpets, haggis and English pies.
“As something new in Barcelona, it’s created a lot of excitement,” says Julie. “We’re the first stop for a lot of people straight off the plane. Some people come in every day and some find us at the end of their stay. We’re also fully licensed and sell the cheapest pint in town.”
HE HARDEST PART WAS FINDING A SHOP TO RENT. “We cycled around for months, looking for somewhere central and touristy but cheaper than the rents on Las Ramblas. The Raval seemed perfect. It’s an area that is on the up, and our shop is on the main promenade, opposite a new five-star hotel that opens in July and the new arts cinema, the Filmoteca de Catalunya,” she explains.
“At first we got the idea that no one was taking us seriously. We had a few scathing remarks from ‘old school’ estate agents, but the main hurdle was not being native Spanish speakers—especially when Catalan radio popped in one day to do an interview and kindly said we could do it in Spanish, with no preparation. Try explaining moist fish in crunchy batter and mushy peas!
 “And every time we went to the town hall, we were given contradictory information, so we soon realised we needed to get one person on our side. But since we’ve opened, it’s been brilliant. The people in the local area are wonderful to us. When our rumbler, which peels the spuds, broke for a few weeks last summer, we had all the kids in the block peeling potatoes,” Julie adds.
Besides the linguistic challenges, there was the small matter of learning the art of fish-frying, portion control and how to choose the perfect potato. For that, Julie and Julia went to the National Federation of Fish Fryers in Leeds, and watched another successful Spanish-based English chippy at The Codfather in the Mallorcan town of Puerto Pollensa.
“We recruited his shop-fitter, who became our hero, getting everything sent down from Leeds and sorting out everything for us, including finding a secondhand range, where the oil is recycled and runs the Barcelona buses. We wonder if people can smell our fish and chips as the bus goes by!” Julia comments.
In typical Spanish style, the hours are long, with Julie and Julia shutting up shop at 2am (earlier in winter). And with four kids between them, aged five to 16, Julie a single mother and Julia’s husband away at sea for six weeks at a time, there is a certain amount of juggling required.
“We’re single parents together most of the time—we met at the International Women’s Club’s mother and toddler group and have been inseparable ever since. Now we both work in the shop most of the time and take it in turns with the school pick-up,” explains Julie, who rents in the upmarket Eixample district, while Julia owns a large flat just off the Ramblas.
 “We haven’t had a day off in nine months, but we love it, especially now the weather is warm and we can chat to customers outside on our terrace. We also hold regular themed parties—Easter, Halloween, Christmas. All the locals watch us with amazement,” she laughs.
“There’s one other good thing about running this place,” Julie adds. “We don’t eat a lot of fish and chips any more.”
Fish And Chips, Rambla del Raval 26,08001 Barcelona, Tel: +34 93 441 1134, www.fishandchipsbarcelona.com
• Join networking groups such as The Entrepreneurs Network (www.networkbarcelona.com) or Barcelona Women’s Network (www..bcnwomensnetwork.com), where expats gather to swap advice. Also, join neighbourhood groups to get good local contacts and support.
• Shop around to get the right advice. “Most professional companies here speak fluent English, which helps while you get to grips with doing business. English-run firms with Spanish offices are a good starting point,” says Rebecca Laidlaw from internet design agency, Source 23 and new advice website www.MumAbroad.com.
• It’s cheaper and easier to set up a business as a freelancer (autónomo) than a limited company (SL).
• “Spanish business culture is about asking the right questions, not about information being given freely,” says Rebecca. “Ask all the unpleasant ‘what happens if’ questions.”
• Don’t get frustrated by the mañana attitude. “It’s rapidly disappearing, but you’ll still come across it,” says Rebecca. “Allow more time to get your infrastructure set up, so it doesn’t cause problems when things don’t happen overnight.”
• Barcelona may be a cosmopolitan city, but remember it is Catalan. Knowing at least a few words of Catalan goes a long way towards being accepted.
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