The queues have been epic at Jackie Lennox chip shop in advance of its closure on Sunday after 73 years, leaving staff too busy to get nostalgic quite yet.
Saturday brought a deluge of biblical proportions that would have had Noah of Old Testament fame scurrying for the Ark but in the Cork takeaway, owner Brian Lennox and his sisters, Mary and Frances, were in New Testament mode, serving up their own take on the loaves-and-fishes miracle.
Earlier this week, Brian recalled that 50 years ago, on a Good Friday, they would use a tonne of potatoes and a half tonne of cod and haddock, so intent were customers on observing the religious tradition of fish on Friday, but recent days saw them beat even those incredible figures.
“I’d say you could double it – the amount of fish and chips we served since people heard on Monday that we were closing has been unreal, the queues have been unreal,” shouted Brian from behind the counter above the din of fryers sizzling and orders being shouted.
Every day for the past week, hundreds of people have queued daily along Bandon Road, around the corner on to 98 Street and down to Noonan Road. Saturday was no different, orange rain warning or not, with punters waiting for more than two hours to get their last supper at Lennox’s.
Alan Vaughan had made the 20km journey from Belgooly in south Cork with his son, Scott (15), to get their last takeaway from Lennox’s while his wife, Deborah, and daughter, Erika (13), waited at home for the delivery, and they had been in the queue for 2½ hours.
“I’m originally from Blarney Road so I’m a northsider and Deborah is from Togher on the south side, but we used to come here a lot back in the day – I suppose you could say I crossed the river for both my wife and my chips,” laughed Alan.
Alan and Michelle Deegan used to frequent Lennox’s as students in UCC in the 2000s so when they heard the chipper was closing, they had no hesitation in driving in from Fermoy for one last meal at the popular eatery.
“We were both in UCC,” said Michelle, “and I was nursing at CUH [Cork University Hospital] for a while so we used to call in here a lot – their chips were special so when we heard the news, we said we would have to go one last time. We’ve got soaked but it’s worth it – we’re off now to eat our chips in the car.”
But it’s not just Corkonians who were fans. Among those in the queue were many new Leesiders, such as Belgian Juan Llorente and his Mexican girlfriend, Eva Lopez. “I’m from Brussels,” said Juan, “and the Belgians pride themselves on great chips, but I think Lennox’s chips are lovely.”
Just ahead of them in the queue was Brazilian Gustavo Hirae from São Paulo and his friends Maria Ohana and Matheus Sousa. “We don’t have chippers in Brazil – you can get fried fish on the beach but nothing as big or as filling as the fish and chips you get here,” said Gustavo.
Larry Ryan had travelled from the Glen of Aherlow in Co Tipperary, while his son Elijah Ó Riain (13) had flown in from Switzerland to continue something of a family tradition.
“My father was stationed in Cork during the Emergency, and he stayed on afterwards, so he used to go to Lennox’s, and I came here when I was in Cork RTC [training college] so when I explained the link to Elijah, he wanted to come over and he loved the chips – he could see what all the fuss was about.”
Queues outside Lennox’s chip shop in Cork, which is closing on Sunday
Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
Sharing her umbrella with Larry and Elijah was Louise Kingston from Clonakilty, who had travelled up with her husband, former Cork footballer Paudie Kissane and their two children Sophie (10) and Sam (8), who were waiting in the car while she queued.
“Paudie and myself used to go there often but it was Sophie and Sam’s first time. Basically they have the nicest chips, the nicest curry with little bits, and their potato pies were unique. We braved a rain warning to drive up from Clon so the kids could experience it and they loved it.”
A more distant traveller for the occasion was David Lavelle who made a 2,082km journey from a small island in Denmark to his hometown chipper.
The painter and decorator, who this week contacted the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM about his plans, took the 5am ferry from the island of Bornholm on Friday. He then flew from Copenhagen to Dublin Airport before taking the aircoach to Cork.
He queued for two hours and 42 minutes in the rain in order to get his order in: “Two battered sausages, a battered burger and chips.”
Back inside the chipper, as Saturday night’s last orders loomed, John Constant and Finbarr Ahern were tucking into their meals, seated at a counter just below a black-and-white photo of Jackie and Eileen Lennox on their wedding day in 1951, the same year they opened the chip shop.
“I went to school with Martin, one of the Lennoxes,” says John “so I started coming here as a teenager, over 50 years ago. I’ll be sad to see it close because the staff are fantastic, the family are fantastic, and the food is fantastic – it really is the end of an era.”
