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Joe and Jean Trotter with George Hussein |
Former mayor hooked on a seafood sensation
Still committed to serving the community, Joe Trotter has got plenty on his plate. By Mark Blunden
THERE’S precious few people in Finsbury who are walking, talking local history lessons.
But, of course, it’s not just about the content and fact – it’s about delivery, and Joe Trotter is a storyteller extraordinaire.
This former Mayor of Islington, ex-Liberal Democrat councillor and veteran charity worker is a serious raconteur.
At 71, Joe Trotter is still closer to what’s happening on the street than some councillors and even the police.
I met Joe and his wife, Jean, 69, last Friday – of course! – to sample their recommended dishes from the metre-long menu of their favourite restaurant, Fish Central.
The Finsbury institution, on the corner of King Square and Central Street, has been serving Londoners tasty, nutritious fish and chips for 40 years and you can guarantee the Trotters will be there every Friday night.
Fish Central is owned by the affable George Hussein, who runs both the large, spotless, airy restaurant on the corner and the takeaway and bakery next door.
Joe explains: “It all started off with just a fish and chip takeaway business in the sixties and then they put some tables out and soon people were coming from all over the place.
“Where we’re sitting now used to be a baker’s and before that it was an undertakers.
“You’d be standing there speaking to the owner and you could just tell he was measuring you up.”
On Friday, Jean chose the rock salmon with sliced tomatoes while Joe chose his staple of wing of skate.
He rarely goes for anything else, though he speaks highly of the liver and onions.
The portions are massive, indeed “some people say they don’t do anything small here”, says Joe.
Jean added: “The food is wonderful, it’s so fresh and wherever we go we spread the word about this place.”
Joe and Jean, who met at a cake mixture factory behind Islington Green, talk animatedly about Finsbury’s past, well before the ‘sustainable regeneration’ projects.
There was a time, they said, when the bustling old C&A clothes factory would loom over the Regent’s Canal close to the basin.
Some of Jean’s family members were employed there and at the Rothmans cigarette and cigar-making factory in Shepherdess Walk.
Jean became a fan of Fish Central during her time as a competitive swimmer at Ironmonger Row baths.
In her teens, she was London schools swimming champion.
Jean said: “Everybody swam when they were young, but I was more competitive than the rest.”
On our visit to Fish Central, I picked the mussels in white wine and spicy tomato sauce to start.
For my main course it seemed reckless to go for cod with my chips and mushy peas and chose the grilled Dover sole.
But it seems not everyone, especially a certain group of Hackney cab drivers, are so in tune with the cod stock crisis.
A committed gaggle of 10 come every Monday and Wednesday. They never used to eat cod before the shortages were publicised in the news. Now, with typical gallows humour, they order the endangered white fish every week.
Recently, Mr Hussein has been branching out and provides hot food for the pensioners at the nearby St Luke’s Centre, a cause close to the hearts of the Trotters.
The Trotters are not the only celebrities who’ve been known to enjoy Fish Central with chef Rick Stein and actress Michelle Collins among its fans.
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