Shop Talk: Fishy way to make a living

Finding the shop is easy. Go to the bottom of the 199 steps and follow your nose along Henrietta Street. Soon you will come to the Fortunes' small and slightly ramshackle building, tucked under the cliff probably looking pretty much as it always has - apart for the Les Routiers sign on the wall, denoting a fine food establishment.

There is a tiny shop, with walls covered with pictures of Fortunes past and present, famous customers (Princess Anne was said to be particularly partial), a copy of the insurance ad in which they appeared in glossy magazines, and a certificate naming them as the North East Foodshop of the Year 2002.

Next door is the smokehouse, small and dark, dripping with the tar of more than a century of smoke. And the kippers - row upon row of them, looking a bit like novelty Christmas decorations.

And beneath them, just on the floor, is a small heap of burning wood shavings, giving off the smoke that turns a herring into a kipper.

"It takes about 16 to 18 hours," explains Barry, a steel erector in his previous life, friendly, as if he didn't have to say the same things to customers a hundred times a day. "Gut and clean the herrings, soak them in brine for about 40 minutes and then put them in the smokehouse. It's the way they've always been done."

And the nearest thing to a high-tech tool is a super sharp knife.

Some producers use modern kilns, all thermostatically controlled and even. Fortunes relies on the wood shavings - mainly beech and oak from a furniture factory in Lincolnshire - and the fresh winds that whip around Whitby's cliffs that can vary the smoking time.

But the herring are no longer local, Whitby's fishing industry being not what it was. "It's 15 years since we've used local herring. Now our fish are mainly Norwegian and Icelandic," says Barry.

They are delivered straight to the door every day, a steady consistent supply that any modern business - however traditional - needs to survive.

In summer, there are often long queues for the kippers. On a sunny Bank Holiday the queues can stretch right back along the street to the bottom of the steps. And they are often sold out by early afternoon.

If needs be, the Browns could whip Fortunes into the 21st century, go into mail order, or sell over the Internet, cram the little smokehouse and multiply their turnover many times. But although you can enjoy them at a few local hotels and restaurants, including the Magpie, the Saxonville and Elizabeth Bothams, for now, the only place to buy a Fortunes kipper is at Fortunes in Whitby.

So if you want a treat for your breakfast, remember to shop early for kippers.

Fortunes, 22 Henrietta Street, Whitby. Open Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; Saturday 9am-3.30pm; Sundays 9am-noon.

FURTHER up the coast are more opportunities to catch yourself a kipper. And if you can't get to the seaside, both these firms do mail order via their websites as well as from the shops.

ROBSONS, just above the harbour at Craster , kippers and smoked salmon. Tel: (01665) 576223. www.kipper.co.uk

FISHERMAN'S KITCHEN, Seahouses. Kippers and smoked salmon. Tel: (01665) 721052. www.swallowfish.co.uk

Send something to someone you love. Why say it with flowers when you can say it with kippers?