Marlow's Penguin Fish Bar owner: 'We are surviving but it could always be better'

Kedar Gore, who co-owns the Penguin Fish Bar on West Street with his wife, works nearly 78 hours a week as he tries to meet the demanding rates and rent for the property he is using, as well as balancing a family life.

READ MORE: Owner of Marlow Green worried following decline in sales, seven months after opening

Mr Gore has lived in the accommodation above the shop with his wife and 12-year-old son, since moving from Oxford 12 years ago.

He told the Bucks Free Press: “We (my wife and I) do get tired working seven days a week and it would be nice to be in a position to afford one more person so we could have a proper break, but at the moment, we can’t do that.

“Fish and chip shops are the heart of every single town, which has an advantage for us as a small, local business, as we get a certain clientele who always, in a way, will stay with us.

“When people go into a town, they might fancy a fish and chips and sometimes there is no alternative to that, so if someone is looking for fish and chips, there are at the right place.

The Penguin Fish Bar in Marlow

“It is also very important for the people of Marlow to support small businesses because the thing is, what people don’t realise is that even as a small business, our rates and rent are always incomparable to our neighbours.

READ MORE: Marlow's No and Low Alcohol shop could be the only one in the UK

“What I pay for rent is like what a chain restaurant or a chain supermarket might pay and that’s the same for the rates as well.

“We have to work on a smaller margin and it’s easier for the supermarkets to absorb those big expenses because they can make it up from a different shop.

“But for us, it’s only this place, and at the moment, all we can do is survive.”

Whist the shop does have a small, loyal customer base, the Penguin Fish Bar is directly opposite a Sainsbury’s, a Giggling Squid and the Cedar, with the Vanilla Pod, Dominos Pizza, the Ship, Bills, the Botanist and a Cote Brasserie all being situated on the same street.

This impacts the amount of business Mr Gore generates, as he also revealed that day trippers to Marlow usually stop off at his business.

So to increase business, the shop owner is considering starting a delivery service, but this has yet to be confirmed.

One of the menus at the The Penguin Fish Bar in Marlow

He added: “We are surviving. We got through the economic struggle of 2008 so we’re doing OK, but it could always be better.

“But one thing I’ve learnt is that people like to change as they like a variety, especially the school kids.

“They might come to us, then the supermarket, or to one of the chains.

READ MORE: All of Marlow's food hygiene ratings

“It is also very hard to say how the chains around us effect our business, because how I look at it is that, some of the chains bring in people to the town, which gives everyone else more exposure, but then, do those people go anywhere else? Or do they go to these big chains?”

For more information about the fish and chip shop, call 01628 477271.