Magpie Café

The Magpie Café
Map
Restaurant information
Established1937; 87 years ago (1937)
Food typeSeafood (fish and chips)
Street address14 Pier Road
CityWhitby
CountyNorth Yorkshire
PostcodeYO21 3PU
CountryEngland
Coordinates54°29′21″N 0°36′54″W / 54.489199°N 0.614917°W / 54.489199; -0.614917
Websitehttp://www.magpiecafe.co.uk

The Magpie Café is a seafood restaurant in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1937,[1] but its building dates back to the 18th century, when it was a merchant's house.[2][3]

Profile

The Magpie Café was founded in 1937. Ian Robson, the current owner, began working there as a fish fryer in 1979.[4]

The restaurant is known for its fish and chips,[5] and has been described as a "bloody good fish and chip shop".[6] The restaurant won a Coast Award for being best fish and chip shop of 2007.[1] The restaurant has faced complaints from local businesses for its long queues.[7] It sources its fish from the local Fishery Lockers Fish.[8]

In 2023, the Magpie was rated 10/10 by British YouTuber Danny Malin host of Rate My Takeaway.

Fires

Two fires in the space of 24 hours caused the Magpie Café to close for repairs in May 2017,[9] reopening in December 2017.[10] The first fire started at 10 pm on 30 April 2017, seven fire engines attended. It was likely caused by a grease build up in an electrical extraction flue in the roof, it damaged the top floor customer toilets. The second fire started at 2:30 pm, this time completely gutted the restaurant roof and lower floors except the kitchen and take away shop.[11] The cause was likely pointed to burning embers not extinguished the day before. In July 2017, a major repair began to rebuild the restaurant before it reopened in December that same year.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Jeeves, Paul (18 February 2008). "Whitby's Magpie fish and chips voted UK's best". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  2. ^ Hirst, Christopher (6 September 1997). "Northern stars". The Independent. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  3. ^ Robson, Dave (2 July 2017). "Whitby's Magpie Cafe takeaway reopens two months after fire". gazettelive. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Phenomenon of the Whitby Magpie queue". Whitby Gazette. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Whitby and wisdom". The Guardian. 23 August 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  6. ^ MacLeod, Tracey (14 November 1998). "The secret of my success: Rick Stein". The Independent. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  7. ^ "Fish shop success upsets traders". BBC News Online. 17 October 2005. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  8. ^ Robson, Ian. "Sea to Plate" (PDF). Magpie Cafe. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  9. ^ "Second blaze at fish and chip restaurant". BBC News. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  10. ^ "Magpie fire 'was like bereavement, but we're elated to be back' - says Co-owner". 13 December 2017. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Celebrating with Magpie Cafe! - Good Day Sacramento". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Fire service delayed by software in Whitby Magpie Cafe blaze". BBC News. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
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