Bringing A Bit of Britain to Brisbane

Gavin Kippins, also known as 'Gavlahh' from Halstead, Essex emigrated to Brisbane in 2012.

The happy-go-lucky chappy who cannot stand the smell of fish was nicknamed 'Fryer Gav' when he took a chance at opening a British fish and chip shop in Australia.

Little did he know that this venture would later lead him to create A Bit of Britain, a  bustling little community for British expats down under in search of a slice of 'home'.

Gavin provides a snapshot of  the cherished memories that British expats yearn for when they live abroad when he explains what his customers are crying out for.

A Bit of Britain, North Lakes is temporarily closed for repairs, but their Upper Coomera store is open for business as usual.

This episode is sponsored by Rubys Home Store; a delightful, eclectic British and Australian designer homewares store offering quirky décor and beautiful gifts.

Use the code 'BRITstralian' to get 10% off your order.
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Transcript

 ANNA

Us Brits abroad long for anything that reminds us of home, and one man has made it his mission to bring a bit of Britain to the east coast of Australia. 

GAVIN

Hey, I'm Gavin. I'm from Halstead in Essex. And I'm a Britstrayian. 

Britstralian. 

I went Bogan the first time. Strayian, mate. 

ANNA

Proper Aussie, yeah.

Gav might be a walking contradiction. He's a butcher by trade and he's a vegan. But he runs a very successful restaurant serving British style fish and chips in Brisbane. 

How long have you been out here, Gav? 

GAVIN

Ah, this time around, I've been here 10 years. 

ANNA

This time around? This time around. 

GAVIN

Yeah, I came over when I was 18 originally, and I lasted about three years, and I absolutely hated it, and wanted nothing more than to go back home to my friends.

ANNA

What brought you back? 

GAVIN

Well, then I went back to the UK, and lived there for another three years, and then realised that I wanted nothing more than to go back to Australia. And I only went back for the first time in May. 

ANNA

God, I can't imagine being away from home for 10 years. 

Why so long? 

GAVIN

Oh, I don't know. I didn't even realize time had gone that far.

And then it was only because my best friend was getting married. And it was like, mate, I want you to be my best man. If that's the only way I can get you back to the country, then I'll get married. So I was like, Oh, okay. 

ANNA

Oh my gosh, that is so sweet. 

GAVIN

So now I've made a promise I'll be back every couple of years.

ANNA

Yeah. Did you enjoy your time back? 

GAVIN

Oh, I loved it. It was amazing. Yeah. I spent the whole time either getting drunk or throwing up. So it was, it was great.

ANNA

Is it Gav, Gavin, or Gavlar? 

GAVIN

Nicknamed Gavlar from the show Gavin and Stacey. But, uh, yeah, because obviously he's from Essex too, so it stuck. 

ANNA

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

So, a Bit of Britain?

GAVIN

Well, it's, we sell nostalgia, that is what we sell.

People just come in and see their childhoods, their past, their back home and just, everyone freaks out, they walk in the door and just see the amount of selection we have and they just freak out every time. 

ANNA

Is it food? Is it a restaurant? Is it a shop? 

GAVIN

So, we sell... We've got an extensive menu of British food, most popular being the fish and chips. We do the cod and the homemade chips, salt and vinegar. So when you walk in the door you get that authentic smell when you walk in. We've got, uh, all of Pacdon Park's meat range. We do their gammon steaks cooked, uh, we use their Leicestershire sausage for our battered sausage.

We do, um, yeah, their black pudding, their haggis. We've got all that. And then also when you walk in, you've got like... Quite an extensive grocery range. We're stocking everything from cleaning products to dib dabs and anything you can imagine and then More because people keep asking us for more so we keep getting more stuff 

ANNA

Sounds like you need quite a big space for all that.

GAVIN

We're running low. We're having to get more shelving 

ANNA

You only just recently set this up, haven't you? 

GAVIN

Yes. We do have the one on the Gold Coast which was there for the last year Yeah. Up in Upper Coombera and we've just opened North Lakes two, just under two months ago. 

ANNA

Wow. 

And so, I mean, obviously you were quite successful in your Gold Coast one to set up another one so soon.

GAVIN

Yes, yeah, Gold Coast has been quite successful. It's a similar setting. At the moment, they've got more groceries and alcohol than we do, because we're still chasing our alcohol license. But, um, yes, it, that was pretty big. We wasn't expecting how big it was, and then everyone just rained on us, and next minute we know we're on the radio, and in the newspaper, and...

ANNA

Really? Yeah. Oh, I love that. Is there a lot of Brits over there, then, Brisbane wise? 

GAVIN

Yes. Oh, uh, Yes, well, North Lakes, where we are, is known as the Little Britain because it's, I think it's actually the biggest congregation of British people in Australia for just the one town. 

ANNA

Oh, is it? 

GAVIN

Yeah. Don't quote me on that, but that is what I'm led to believe.

ANNA

Is that where you live? Do you live there? 

GAVIN

I live very close. Yeah. Okay. Just around the corner. 

ANNA

Oh, that's why I didn't go home for 10 years. Cause you're surrounded by Brits. 

GAVIN

That's it. I live in Britain anyway. Just the sunnier version. 

ANNA

So what were you doing before you set up a bit of Britain? What's your background?

GAVIN

Well, I did own and operate Great British Fryer in the same location as the current North Lakes location. And I did that for three years. 

ANNA

So what is that, sorry? Fish and chip shop? 

GAVIN

That was a fish and chip shop, yeah. We didn't have the grocery section, but it was very similar to our current menu. Except the new menu is a lot more extensive.

And, um, before I started Great British fryer, I actually have a phobia of fish. I don't like fish. I don't like the smell. I don't like the taste. I don't like anything about fish. And it just so happened, I was Uber driving at the time and I was bored and I had no job on, and I was sitting on the side of the road and something popped up on my Facebook about opening a fish and chip shop up in North lakes, and I went ‘How hard can that be?’ So I just jumped in and I learned everything I needed to learn in about two weeks. I winged it, proper Essex style. 

ANNA

You winged it really well.

GAVIN

We've done pretty good, um, business there. But nothing compared to what we've got now. It's, it's gone insane this time around. 

ANNA

Yeah, you are. I've seen like, even on Facebook, you're following, you always get so many comments and people are really passionate about what you do. You ran out of chips, didn't you Yesterday?

GAVIN

Yes, ran out of chips yesterday for the first time. Cause we're getting through about a ton of potatoes a week at the moment. 

ANNA

So that sounds like a lot. Is that? 

GAVIN

That is a, that's a lot of potatoes. Yeah, we were ordering a ton a week and just thinking, well, we've got a couple of bags left over every week, but then this week it just no.

ANNA

How many customers do you have in a day, say on an average day? 

GAVIN

Our footfall is about 100 to 150 sales a day is our average footfall at the moment, I believe. Oh, and that's just North Lakes. 

ANNA

That's just North Lakes?

GAVIN

That's just North Lakes. Yeah. 

ANNA

Wow. How did you come up with the name? 

GAVIN

That was actually my business partner. Funny enough. So a bit of a backstory. We closed Great British Fryer and I said, that's it. I'm done. I'm never doing British fish and chips again. I've done my time. That's it. All right. So I walked away and, um. I bumped into Steph down on the Gold Coast and she was like, you used to run Great British Fryer, I want to chat with you.

So I was like, Oh, okay. So we ended up having a cup of tea and she's like, I really want to open this concept, which is British fish and chips, but also a huge grocery range and everything in between. 

ANNA

Brilliant. 

GAVIN

And I was like, that's a great idea. And I was like, I'll tell you what. I'll let you know, um, how to do it and help you set up and then I'll walk away from it and I'll be done with it.

But then we sat down and further discussions, her vision was exactly what I wanted to make Great British Friar. And then I got really excited and then we found a location and we built it from a shell. It was an old post office, falling to pieces, so we built it from the floor up. All the fridge and freezers in there designed it like an underground station, London underground. And yeah, we just put so it took about a year to design and build. And then when it launched, it was just, Huge, and um, I was sucked back in, and here I am now. 

ANNA

Do you get a lot of regulars that come to you? 

GAVIN

Oh yes, there's some faces that probably come far too many times a week than they should. But I won't tell them that.

ANNA

It's like you've created a little community. 

GAVIN

Yes. That's, that's what we wanted to do. That's what we aim to do [is] make a bit of a community so it could be online, but also people can catch up, just come for a cup of tea, meet up with their friends. 

ANNA

Is it all Brits that come to you? Do you get any Aussies? 

GAVIN

I would say primarily it's Brits, but we have noticed there's quite a lot of Australians who are now curious to what all the hype is about, and they're all turning up looking very confused, and then looking at their chips and going, what is this? Why am I putting vinegar on it? What's going on? 

ANNA

What do they think of vinegar on chips? Not fans…?

GAVIN

It's hit and miss. Some of them love it, and some of them are like, okay, next time I'll go chicken salt. Not many of them are game enough to try black pudding and haggis and stuff like that, but they dip their toes with the calamari and the battered cod.

ANNA

Do you know what, I saw a post that you did on Facebook where you said that you were changing the sausage that you use in a battered sausage because you had, like, quite a lot of people complaining that it didn't taste like a proper battered sausage. And then you did change it. The response was overwhelming on Facebook with people going, yeah, like, we're so happy. It's lovely that you've got that community where you can actually talk. to each other and get that feedback. 

GAVIN

Yeah, a hundred percent. It's very helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Because, um, we launched with the Cumberland and, um, we, we thought it was, you know, fancy sausage. It'd be really good. But then the funny thing was the complaint was, ‘I've just had the battered sausage and It's far too good quality. It needs to be a dirty fish and chip sausage, not a fancy gourmet sausage’. So that's not bad feedback, is it? Your food's too good quality. 

ANNA

That is absolutely brilliant. Um, so are you selling more battered sausages now that you've changed the sausage? 

GAVIN

Yeah, well, the first week we changed it, like you said, the response was so huge and we'd ordered - I can't remember, like, quite a lot, there was a lot of sausages we ordered and um, we have to get them flown in because they come from Pacdon Park on the Victoria border and um, we- We ordered them all in, launched it on Facebook, it was overwhelming response, and next minute was calling Jim up going, you need to fly us in more sausages, we're going to run out in about two days.

ANNA

No! 

GAVIN

And he's like, so he's organising more to come in and, ah, chaos. And I think they arrived with about two sausages left. 

ANNA

So he managed to get them to you in time? 

GAVIN

Yeah. 

ANNA

Yeah. Wow. 

Um, what would you say, obviously you've just said your chips and your sausages, but what are your biggest sellers? What's the thing that you sell most of?

GAVIN

So hot food would definitely be the cod and chips, 100%. The cod combo flies because you get to choose whether you want a side with that one as well. So it's a combo of fish, chips, curry sauce, mushy peas, or gravy. And then, um, Also definitely say pork pies are definitely up there. We can never get enough pork pies in the door. They're always selling out.

So, the other week. I don't know if you saw on Facebook that we got in Battenbergs. 

ANNA

Yeah. Yes. 

GAVIN

So they're very difficult to get because they've got such a low date on them. So we generally get everything shipped over. 

ANNA

Yeah. 

GAVIN

But with Battenbergs, we've got to get them flown over. So they're quite a lot More expensive to get to us. 

ANNA

Hold on flown over from the UK flown over from the UK?

GAVIN 

Yes. So we got our store got 240 Battenbergs and we were sold out before the week was up. So we're actually organizing yet another Battenberg delivery. 

ANNA

Who runs your Facebook? Who's that? Who's the Facebook chief? 

GAVIN

Mostly me.

Steph is on there too. 

ANNA

Is that why you in your underpants which went viral? In your Union Jack underpants? 

GAVIN

That was a little bit of a joke between me and Steph and she... She had those underwear for sale in her shop just before we opened and I said, Oh, I should wear a pair of these and do a post with me wearing them. And then she's like, you don't have the balls. I said, yeah, I'll do it. 

ANNA

How many times has that picture been viewed now? 

GAVIN

Last check, that has been seen over a million times. 

ANNA

Oh, wow. 

GAVIN

I might start a OnlyFans page if I'm that popular with me underpants. 

ANNA

I was actually going to ask you, what are your plans for the future - Sounds like you already know!

Do you plan to extend? I'd love to see you in Perth. I think I've said that about a million times. 

GAVIN

Yes, we definitely want to extend. Um, we're actually currently looking for the third location, but I can't say too much about where. 

ANNA

Is it within? the Brisbane area. 

GAVIN

We're looking close and further afield, trying to work out what's best for us right now, but we definitely intend to extend outside of the Brisbane area at some point.

ANNA

Aresome of your customers, like the older Brits who've been here- they sort of came over as 10 pound poms, do you get any of them? 

GAVIN

Yes, it's very diverse with who we get in the shop and um, it's funny because some of the things they asked us for and we Google it and it's like, well they stopped making that in 1984, I'm sorry.

ANNA

What kind of things did they ask you for? 

GAVIN

There was a certain type of Horlicks, I can't even remember what it was, a Horlicks tablet or something. I can't remember. And, uh, I was like, I've never heard of that. And we looked it up and it had been discontinued years ago. Oh, Blair. So we had to call them up and go, so sorry.

ANNA

That is so cute. I love that they have those memories from all that time ago. It just shows how long they've been here. 

GAVIN

Yeah. And the thing, and the random things people miss, it's... 

ANNA

Like what? What, what do you think are the biggest things they miss?

GAVIN

Obviously fish and chips. Yeah, um, uh, like some people ask us to get the Heinz tomato sauce from the UK and we're like surely it's the same as Heinz tomato sauce from Coles and they're like, no, I just, I just want the British one. So it's made from British tomatoes. Oh, okay. I'll see what we can do. 

ANNA

Do you sell much, um, like memorabilia? So things like mugs and yeah, anything with the Union Jack on? 

GAVIN

Uh, the. Upper Coomber store certainly does. It's got, uh, quite the range of that sort of stuff. There was a particular mug, and I think it's got like, uh, iconic parts of London all around it. It's a really nice mug. And we originally bought [the mug] that because that was going to be the mug that we just serve the cups of tea in, but it was so popular, everyone wanted it. So we had ended up having to go past who we bought it from and actually [go] to the manufacturer of this mug and get loads shipped in. And we just kept selling out of them. 

Anna

Wow. 

GAVIN

Yeah. Um, North Lakes, we'll be getting that soon. Once I find more shelf space. 

ANNA

I can't believe it's getting to that point. Oh, that's amazing. I love it. 

Was there anything that existed like this in Brisbane before you started? Do you know? 

GAVIN

Um, there is a couple of other fish and chip shops around the area that have been there for quite some time. But yeah, I don't think on the scale of the grocery selection and everything we've got, there isn't anything. 

ANNA

Yeah. Okay. 

GAVIN

That fits in comparison. 

ANNA

And what, Gav, just so I know, what's your job when you're in, because I get the impression that you're serving. 

GAVIN

I'm generally chief fryer, ‘Fryer Gav’ as they call me. And no, not, not religious. 

ANNA

No, not in your underpants outside the shop. What did you say about North Lakes, sorry?

GAVIN

We wasn't expecting North Lakes to be quite this busy, quite as quickly. It was beyond any of our expectations and, um, we just haven't been able to train anyone else up to do the frying. It's literally been me since day dot because I can't train someone up from scratch to be able to cope with the amount of customers we've got currently got, and that's what's holding us up going to new locations because I need to get someone who can do what I do at the moment.

ANNA

And your chips, what is it- Just for any Brits who are listening in the UK coming out here and emigrate and they would have no idea that out here you go to a fish and chip shop and you don't get the same fish and chip. What is it about your chips that makes them British? 

GAVIN

Well, we actually make our own chips. We go to the effort. We've got a British imported chipper and rumbler and everything, and, um, we make everything from scratch from the potato. Whilst out here, you're most likely going to get, uh, a frozen counterpart, which doesn't, in my opinion. Really make good fish and chips. 

ANNA

So that's the key. That's what makes British fish and chips, British fish and chips?

GAVIN

Yeah. 

ANNA

Oh, there you go. There you go. Never knew that. 

Um, just one quick question. This is so random. I saw, I think it was you that posted on Facebook and said that Greg's isn't what it used to be. 

GAVIN

Calling me out there, are you? 

ANNA

I am, because I was horrified. 

GAVIN

I didn't connect that to my business whatsoever. I just said that as a personal.

ANNA

What was wrong with your Greggs? 

GAVIN

I just, I didn't like it. I took one bite out of the sausage roll. And put it in a bin. I was like, what on earth is everyone raving about? This is just not good. This is not good stuff. 

ANNA

Oh, I'm gutted to hear that because that's one of the biggest things I miss about the UK is, yeah, going to Gregg's.

GAVIN

Well, I've always said if I could get a, uh, agreement with Gregg's to open up Gregg's out here, I'd be, I'd be multinational in about two weeks.

ANNA

To keep up with what Gavin's up to next and where he'll open his next restaurant and shop, you. Follow him on social media, all the links are in the description wherever you're listening to this podcast and on the Brit Australian website.