Hetty and Betty, Whitby: Oldest fish and chip shop in Yorkshire coast town that used to be a bank and now serves fish and chips afternoon tea

Two decades later, part of the building was carved out and converted into a restaurant that exclusively served fish and chips called Mills Cafe. Since 1928, it was owned by the same family for generations and hosted various events, weddings and parties, attracting tourists during the summer season.

In the year 2000, the family had a tragedy prompting them to sell; it went through a number of hands and it wasn’t owned for very long.

Over the years, it became derelict and fell into decline until 2018 when Lois Kirtlan, 48, from Akwith, brought it to life as a fish and chip shop.

“I’m a bit of a history geek,” Ms Kirtlan said.

“One of the reasons I bought it is because I fell in love with its character.

“We took over in May 2018; it was a very neglected, unloved, dark, dingy, 80s style cafe, literally everything was Magnolia.

“Everything is blues, greens and lots of feathers; it’s not as though you’ve gone back in time, it’s contemporary meets the 20s.

“When I took over, I had a vision of serving afternoon teas by the sea and everybody said that’s fantastic but people go to the seaside for fish and chips. So I created the fish and chips afternoon tea.

“Imagine a three tier stand and on the bottom is your fish and chips, in the middle is your bread, butter and mushy peas and on the top is your homemade scone with cream and jam.

“It is quirky, it’s different, it has enabled the business to grow exponentially. Having that quirky dish enabled us to stand out in a town famous for fish and chips.

“The fish and chips afternoon tea has put us on the map, we also do traditional afternoon teas as well. We really work on our customer service, we’re really proud of that.

The original owner of Hetty and Betty was the sister of the woman who founded the surviving Magpie Cafe in Whitby and the woman who founded Riverside Fisheries.

All three businesses were successful.

The business will be reaching its seven-year milestone later in May 2025 and over the years Ms Kirtlan has been collecting memorabilia to learn about its history.

“I feel we are the custodians of history,” she said.

As far as we know, it is Whitby’s oldest fish and chips serving restaurant, so we have that responsibility now and it’s up to us that this continues.

“In 2028 it will be 100 years old, so we have that responsibility to get it to its 100th birthday.

“I’ve got memorabilia all the way from 1946. When we moved the counter during the refurb, we found a penny from 1946 with King George on it.

“We also received a whole range of memorabilia from people whose families have had events in the venue upstairs. I’ve got a wedding receipt from 1949, so I know they were doing weddings.

“They were certainly serving fish and chips but their main bread and butter was hosting coach parties because they had the large room upstairs.”

Ms Kirtlan said that the name she chose for the business has attracted a lot of attention.

“I named it after my daughter Harriet and my niece Molly Elizabeth,” she said.

“Everybody imagines two elderly little ladies, in actuality they are eight and 11 years old. That’s who Hetty and Betty are.

“It’s my most asked question when customers come in: ‘are you Hetty or are you Betty?’ and I always say, ‘you’re going to regret asking me this now because you’re going to get the history’.

“You’d be amazed at how many Hettys and how many Bettys there are; these are names that stand the test of time.

“We’ve had newborn babies called Betty right through to elderly customers who are in their 70s and 80s and they are still coming in for their fish and chips, bless them.

“We have so many people who stand outside under the sign because their name is Hetty or because they’re name is Betty.”

Many customers who have walked through its doors have had historic ties to the business.

“I get people who come in now and they say, my sister got married here in the 1960s or my parents had their wedding anniversary here in the 1970s,” Ms Kirtlan said.

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“We have people who come in and say ‘I came here in the 60s as a little one with my parents’, they’ve then brought their children and now they’re bringing their grandchildren.

“We get three generations coming through who have been coming for years for a meal.”

The business has been going through some tough times and there are a number of factors contributing to this, one of the biggest issues businesses on the coast has is that they are seasonal, Ms Kirtlan said.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of other businesses from different sectors, we’re not alone,” she said.

“All sectors seem to be feeling it. There are a whole range of factors involved in this: obviously the political climate, the economic climate, but also the weather.

“The weather this winter has been quite a long, cold winter which doesn’t help us.

“One of the biggest issues that we have on the coast is that we are seasonal. There’s no getting away from it.

“No one looks outside on a cold January day and says let’s go to the coast. To mitigate that, I am chair of the Whitby Lit Fest.

“When I came to Whitby, I couldn’t understand why a town famous for Dracula, famous for Alice In Wonderland, didn’t have a Lit Fest.

“It’s taken me six years, but after years of beating that drum I have finally managed to get the funding for it.”

Ms Kirtlan is currently planning her long term goal for the business.

“We’ve grown our business 859% over the six years that we’ve been trading,” she said.

“We are now looking at next steps; for us the next part of our growth plan is that we want to bring the Whitby fish and chips afternoon tea to the rest of Yorkshire.

“What we want to do is open a second site, we’re initially looking at York, and then from there create a chain of Hetty and Betty across Yorkshire.”