Lucy and Andrew Pink at their successful wet fish shop, Fish, in Cowes. They have now opened a second shop in Richmond-upon-Thames.
LESS than a year after they gambled a redundancy pay out on a new business, a young couple have celebrated the opening of a new mainland shop.
As the rest of the country careered towards a recession, with small businesses closing all around them, Andrew and Lucy Pink opened a wet fish business, Fish, in Cowes.
As they plan on how to celebrate the anniversary of that shop in March, the couple have opened a second shop, in Richmond-upon-Thames.
"People told us we must be mad when we told them about opening a shop last year.
"There were quite a few empty shops in Cowes at the time, so it was a big gamble.
"It was one of those things that might have just been a summer hit but thankfully it hasn’t been," said Andrew, 25.
He used a redundancy pay-out from a previous job in marine sales to set up the business, training as a fishmonger at the historic Billingsgate Market, London.
"I did a week-long course and some work experience with a friend who has some wet fish shops in London but it was still a steep learning curve at the start," said Andrew.
Support from local fishermen, who supply the stock for both shops, was essential according to the couple, who added that the recession had in some ways helped with the expansion.
"Three or fours years ago we would not have been able to afford to rent a shop in Richmond. We did a lot of negotiating," he said
The couple chose Richmond after a number of customers in their Cowes shop suggested the area.
"It was amazing over the summer, we kept getting people from the Richmond area who were saying they really needed a good fishmonger there," he added.
The couple will celebrate the first anniversary of the Cowes shop on March 29.
Reporter: ross.findon@iwcp.co.uk