Fish and chip shops hold many golden memories for Dundonians.
With Italian immigrants leading the way, Scotland was home to 4,500 chippies by 1914 and nowhere did they have a greater impact on the population than in Dundee.
In the 1936 Dundee Directory, 70 out of the 94 fish and chip proprietors were Italian.
The Dora family were among the first of the Italian settlers and became household names after moving from the village of Rovinaglia in the province of Parma in 1888.
They eventually opened a fish and chip shop.
The business spread through the city, before salting their last supper five years ago.
Where did it all start for Dora’s?
Dora’s first opened in Princes Street, at the now-obliterated Middle Street.
There was also a place to sit in and enjoy the freshly cooked food.
It was called the International.
Peter Dora was operating the chipping machine at the age of four.
He was educated at St Patrick’s Primary in Lilybank Road and a primary in Rovinaglia where he went to learn the language of his family.
He never went on to secondary education.
His father wanted him to work in the family chip shop at Middle Street where he served behind the counter until the Second World War.
The “black out” years also brought a shortage of fish and wrapping paper.
Very often they would only fry haddock twice a night and some customers would
turn up with their own plates for a carry-out.
Mussolini’s Italy entered the war on the side of Germany in June 1940, which had devastating consequences for Italian immigrant families living in Scotland.
Italian men were classified as “enemy aliens” and placed in internment camps, while the younger generations of Scots-Italians were recruited to the Royal Pioneer Corps.
Pioneers played their part with distinction.
During the war, Peter was stationed in London, where he helped clear homes bombed in the Blitz, then as acting sergeant of a prisoner-of-war camp in Wales.
After the war he returned to the Middle Street shop, then left the family business to work at a tar factory in Arbroath.
In 1952 he married Matilde Brattesani in Arbroath.
The Brattesani family originated from the Borgotora village in Parma and opened fish and chips shops in Scotland, including in Anstruther, Dundee, Arbroath and Perth.
It was a match made in batter heaven.
Peter returned to the fish and chip business at the Popular in Dundee’s St Andrew’s Street, before he got the opportunity to buy his own premises in Dura Street in 1954.
Dora’s became a landmark at the corner of Eliza Street and Dura Street.
Peter and Matilde were responsible for bringing the very familiar aroma of hot oil and vinegar to nostrils in Stobswell and became well-known faces behind the fryer.
A chip shop tea was a staple takeaway treat on a Friday and Saturday.
There would be huge queues snaking down the street and round the corner.
Peter worked there until the early 1970s, then went on to buy chip shops in St Giles Terrace, King Street in Broughty Ferry and latterly in Barnhill.
Despite spending some time as a mechanic, it was only natural that their son, Giulio, would follow in his parents’ footsteps and take up the mantel at the iconic family firm.
Giulio, who grew up in Stobswell, was a familiar face at Dora’s as a bairn, first entering the chippie at the tender age of one.
But it would be another eight years before he served his first customer – and a few decades passed before he bought the family firm in 1981.
A simpler time when a fish supper would only cost you the grand total of 75p.
The great and the good frequented Dora’s over the years: from jute mill workers to Dundee FC legend Bobby Cox, wrestler George Kidd and pop idol Donny Osmond.
Osmond is known to enjoy a fish supper and made a beeline for Dora’s.
He wasn’t the only one.
Former Dundee United manager Jim McLean used to come in and check the players weren’t eating fish and chips after training finished.
It was also a favourite with hungry Morgan Academy pupils at lunchtime.
The secret to success was simple for Dora’s
People kept coming back for their battered treats.
The fundamental cooking method was always the same.
The fish was bright white and flaky and Giulio was often reluctant to increase prices – even when things like the cost of potatoes went up from £6 to £13 in 1995.
Dora’s charged 50p for a bag of chips but were forced to raise the price of their largest portion from 80p to 85p after “holding off for as long as possible”.
There were peaks and troughs to navigate.
Unemployment reached its highest rate since 1995 in 2008, although the economic downturn had a “peculiar effect” and helped to lure cost-conscious punters.
“There is less money going about Dundee with so many redundancies,” said Giulio.
“People are eating out less but a fish supper remains an affordable treat.
“And you’ve no dishes to do.”
An Evening Telegraph feature in 2010 put Dora’s longevity down to the simplest of ideas: “Good food, cooked well and with good customer service”.
“Some things just don’t need to change,” it said.
The sign over the door showed just how long the Dora family had been keeping Dundee families fed but things were about to change when Giulio announced his retirement.
Dora’s shut up shop for good when he hung up his apron in 2018.
It closed a chapter not just in his own life but also in the history of Dundee.
Phoenix from the flames return for Dundee fish and chips shop
Giulio said: “This hasn’t been a sudden decision.
“We will be sad to leave the customers after all their years of business, as well as the delivery drivers who have come in and out with our supplies over the years.
“We have so many great memories of our time here.
“I’ve been amazed at the reaction from customers to us closing.
“We had some Brownies come in recently and they told me I couldn’t retire.
“I was welling up.
“I’ve worked 14 to 15-hour days as far back as I can remember and must have cut up thousands of tonnes of spuds in that time.
“I would like to thank all the staff, customers and businesses we have worked with during the years.”
Generations of Dundonians mourned the closure.
The chip shop was given a new lease of life after the shutters were pulled down and reopened under the name Stobbie Chippy with John Laidlaw at the helm.
Colin Clement, chairman of Stobswell Forum, said the return of a fish and chip shop in the building had gathered so many messages of support from local residents.
He said: “People grew up with Dora’s and went there when they were children, right through to when they were adults, and their own children also went there.
“The closure of Dora’s was a big loss to the area and was an end of an era but I’m sure that the new, rebranded shop will be just as successful.”
Dora’s may be gone but the shop’s frying history continues in 2023.
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