Simpsons to open new shop in Gloucester next month

Award-winning fish and chip business Simpsons is opening its third shop in Gloucestershire next month.

Owners James and Bonny Ritchie have bought an existing chippy in Quedgeley on the edge of Gloucester, adding to their sites in Stroud and Cheltenham.

The Quedgeley takeaway will open five days a week initially but this may increase if demand dictates. Customers will be able to enjoy all the Simpsons favourites including cod, haddock and tofu as well as a number of new items such a burgers and pies.

James will run the site with two friers moving over from Cheltenham plus five new staff members which Simpsons is in the process of recruiting.

James comments: “We’re ready for another shop now. Cheltenham is going well, it’s staff-run, and Stroud is at a point where we’ve got a really strong team and they are able to run the shop there, so we’ve been able to step away and think about what we want to do next.

"Gloucester sews up the perfect triangle between Stroud and Cheltenham and we’ve had lots of people coming from Gloucester to our other shops that ask when are we coming to Gloucester. We thought we would keep an eye out and see what was there and this shop came up for sale. We thought the location was great, it’s on a really busy crossroads going toward Gloucester town centre, there are lots of offices and houses around, it’s a really nice, busy little area.”

The takeaway is undergoing new branding and a clean-up and will be open mid February.

Simpsons’ 70-seater restaurant and takeaway in Cheltenham won National Fish & Chip Shop the Year in 2016 and a year later it opened its Stroud takeaway. The Cheltenham restaurant has since been hit hard by the Covid pandemic, resulting in its sit-down trade almost entirely replaced by deliveries and takeaways.

James adds: “We have got all these challenges at the moment and it does mean that we need that extra income. If we can do that from having another shop, then great."