South Shields institution Colmans looks set to open at Fenwick in Newcastle

It looks as though South Shields institution Colmans is set to open at the Newcastle landmark shop, with the retailer teasing the opening on its Instagram channel, showing the distinctive Colmans dishes and tableware saying “something exciting is coming....”

Local family-run business Colmans have been serving fish and chips to the people of South Shields since 1905.

Their takeaway and sit in restaurant Colmans Fish and Chips, which is located on Ocean Road, opened in 1926 and was their only venue until 2017 when they expanded the business.

The team gave new life to the old Gandhi’s Temple, built in 1931 on the seafront, to create sister business Colmans Seafood Temple, just yards from where the Colmans journey started with a beach shack 120 years ago.

As well as serving classic fish and chips, the venue offers other seafood dishes, including an oyster bar, and is regarded as one of the best restaurants in the area, even winning praise from food critic Jay Rayner.

Complimenting the curry sauce in his Guardian review in 2023, he said: “A proper chip-shop curry sauce should taste like it’s staining your insides while raising your blood sugar, with its mix of rough spiced heat and sweetshop raucousness, just as this does.”

More details are due to be announced on the Fenwick venture, which will be their first north of the Tyne, and where exactly it will be situated in the shop.

Fellow South Tyneside business, Blacks Corner, which originated in East Boldon, also recently opened in Fenwick, opening a wine and cheese bar in the Food Hall area.

It follows the success of their sympathetic restoration of the Tram Shelter in Seaburn, Sunderland, in December 2023 with another Wearside branch set to open in the new £27m Culture House in autumn this year.