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Dudley Food For Health Award
Our Plaice has just been awarded the Healthier Takeaway Award by Dudley MBC in conjunction with NHS Dudley, for:
Availability of Healthier Food.
High Standards of Food Safety.
Good Environmental Practices.
We also more recently got a Gold Health award.
This is on top of achieving a perfect 5 out of 5 in the food health and hygiene category!
History
Way back in 1968 Our Plaice was born, founded by Maureen and Mike Howard in their front living room when Maureen saw the gap in the market for Traditional Fish and Chips. The business took off, enabling them to expand and eventually get premises on Beecher Road in the early 70’s. In 1986 the business moved from Beecher Road down to the Dudley Road when, as Mike put it, ‘The opportunity was just too good’ and they never looked back!
Our Plaice developed again in the 90’s when the group decided to expand, buying a small shop in Quarry Bank, as many of you can remember. The next upward move for the Our Plaice brand came when the shop in Hagley opened its doors in 2002. It never looked back. So much so that in 2004, Mike, Maureen, Paul and Greg decided to enter the shop for the national fish and chip shop award by Seafish – the Independent Takeaway Fish and Chip Shop of the Year Award. The Dudley Road shop, our flagship for so many years before the Hagley branch even opened, represented the Our Plaice name and all it stood for. And it won! This was a testament to all the hard work of our principles. As Mike always drummed into his sons, we did it the ‘OUR PLAICE way’.
In September 2005, Mike and Maureen decided to hang up the overalls and retired from the day-to-day running of the shop, leaving trusted son Paul and the friendly team to get on with it. As Paul recalls, when his dad worked, he only interfered 3 or 4 days a week. It was not long before the Halesowen and Hagley shops parted company as the two brothers, Paul and his brother wanted to develop their respective shops in different ways.
Once long-serving member of staff Karen was promoted to the post of Manageress, she became Paul’s right-hand woman in the business. With her, she brought a breath of fresh air, expanding the range of fish on offer.
Now, with the passing of Mike and Maureen, Paul has also taken a back-seat role, handing the day-to-day running of the shop to their grandson, Ollie. Customers still see Paul when he drops in from time to time to keep a close eye on proceedings. He still prepares the chips and fish every day for our loyal customers old and new.
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