How Ballarat's Latrobe Street fish and chip shop stayed the same while the world changed

Featuring green countertops, original '70s decor and still operating as a cash-only business, it's been run by the Hontzogloy family - Effey, Emmanuel and son George - for the past 43 years.

Throughout the years, they have witnessed the massive change the city has gone through.

With that change comes the story of how a fish and chip shop, run by two Greek immigrants, became a weekly favourite for many Ballarat residents.

The Hontzogloys' story began in the mid-1960s and over the other side of the world in Greece.

It all started when Effey, who was 15-years-old at the time, made the decision to come to Australia for "a better life".

She had heard about it from her uncle who was already living and working in Ballarat, operating his own fish and chip shop.

Despite her wishes to leave her home country, her family backed the decision and her uncle paid for the ticket to travel on board "The Patris" in May, 1966.

The Patris was famous for bringing across thousands of migrants from Greece and other countries to Australia between the late 1950s to the mid-1970s.

Because she was so young, Effey lied about her age on her passport in order to travel by herself.

She put her date of birth as her brother's.

Not knowing any English, she learned the basics during the month-long journey.

The first stop was in Fremantle, Western Australia, before continuing onto Victoria - and Ballarat.

Effey described Ballarat as "a new world" upon seeing the bright lights of Bridge Mall and Sturt Street when she arrived in town.

It was a stark contrast to her hometown, which had no electricity.

She started working straight away in the Sunshine Biscuits Factory on Victoria Street, sorting biscuits. A lot of European migrants worked there.

But that was not her only job. After finishing work at the factory, she would then go and work at her uncle's fish shop and look after her cousin's three children. She didn't get paid because she was living there.

Around the same time, she sent a letter and photo to her brother, who was serving in the Greek army with Emmanuel.

Emmanuel, who was 18-years-old at the time, didn't know about Effey until he saw the photo.

Straight away, Emmanuel said he wanted to marry her.

But Effey didn't see it the same way.

"I don't want to do that, absolutely I do not want to do that," the 72-year-old said.

"I told them, 'No, no, no, no', but they made me do it."

She worked for two straight-years to pay the money back to her uncle and save to pay for Emmanuel to fly over to Australia.

It was hard work.

"It was terrible ... too much." Effey recalled.

Emmanuel flew to Australia just before Christmas in 1969 and two weeks later they married.

Like Effey, he had no knowledge of English. He learned while living and working here.

Upon his arrival, Emmanuel started working at Bendix in Delacombe.

He worked there for seven years making brakes, brake pads and working the presses.

"Dad said 'I had no idea ... people just told me to press this button, do this, do that'," son George said of his father.

Emmanuel also worked at a few fish and chip shops as well.

By the early to mid-1970s, Effey and Emmanuel had plenty of experience in running a fish shop.

In the middle of the decade, Effey's cousin purchased a fish and chip shop in Melton. Effey and Emmanuel went into a partnership with her cousin for three years before it ended in late 1978.

Effey and Emmanuel then started another partnership with another person. It is then the idea for the Latrobe Street fish shop was born.

Emmanuel, Effey and their business partner obtained a loan and built the shop, in what could only be described by Effey as "the middle of nowhere". There were only a few other buildings standing, and the saleyards operating across the road.

"They (Effey, Emmanuel and their partner) wanted to build it to be the most modern fish shop in Ballarat," George said.

"The size of it and what they put inside it, how they dressed it up with their fryers, with their equipment ... they wanted to be the biggest in Ballarat, but in the middle of nowhere."

The door opened to the public in August 1979, featuring the green and brown counters.

"Back in '79 this was in," George said.

"When it first opened, the shop actually had carpet! That only lasted about two weeks."

With the exception of new tiles and the addition of the displays and fridges, not much has changed on the inside.

The counters are original and the menu board is more than 35 years old.

Even the rubber plant, which was planted in a pot on the opening day, remains alive and well.

It was a slow start for the business, mainly due to its location.

"At the start, it was quiet ... there was nothing going on," George said.

"It wasn't good enough for two partners, so one of the partners had to say, 'Right, either you go, or I go ... we're not making enough money'."

Their business partner was around for a little over a year before they bought him out.

George, one of two sons, was always playing around the shop while he and his brother were growing up.

He remembered playing in the paddocks behind the shop - well before it became industrialised.

When George was older he worked before and after school and on the weekends.

"In 1990 when I finished school, Mum and Dad were very busy and there was always just the two of them," he said.

"They had some workers but at the end of the day it's not the same.

"I started coming and said 'I'll work for a little bit and see how I go down the track' - 35 years later, I'm still here."

The shop started getting slowly busier throughout the early '80s as the saleyards boomed. They relied on the truck drivers, agents and farmers for business.

But difficult times were ahead, dealing with drought, a recession and high interest rates.

Effey and Emmanuel worked extremely long hours, seven days a week for seven years to help pay off the mortgage and make a living - even if they were sick.

Back in the '80s, Effey had her kidney removed and was back to work the next day.

"They had to be here to work and to pay off the mortgage," George said.

"Mum was one week out of hospital with one kidney picking up baskets and wrapping up orders."

Despite all of the challenges, they never considered giving up, but their hard work came at a cost.

"We said, 'If we keep doing that, we're going to lose the kids'," Effey recalled.

As a result, they made what was then a huge decision: to close on Sundays.

Effey said they were the first fish shop in Ballarat to do so.

"I said, 'We're going to try ... if it's not all right we can open again'," she said.

The decision paid off - despite them still working 14-hour days, six days a week.

George said his mum and dad were resilient.

"They survived a recession, the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) - they went through all that," he said.

"The resilience of Mum, Dad and me, we've always just strived to keep on going."

But the Hontzogloys said there was one very important element to their success and drive to keep opening each day: their loyal customers.

The slow start was soon a thing of the past once Ballarat's southern area started to open up and grow, and families moved in.

"It became a lot better because Latrobe Street wasn't at the end of Ballarat," George said.

"It was starting to get busier and we weren't relying just on the markets anymore either.

"The Delacombe area (started growing), Wiltshire Lane opened up with a lot of factories.

"The housing from Delacombe, Snake Valley, Haddon, Greenhalghs Road - all of that started opening up, bringing people, bringing businesses."

Although the town changed around them, Emmanuel, Effey and George - along with their friendly, welcoming nature, and the fish shop - remained the same for 42 years.

Not only did they watch Ballarat grow, but their loyal customers and families as well.

"Our regulars that we started getting as customers were our life, because Mum and Dad first got to meet them," George said.

"Mum and Dad basically saw them get married, saw them have children, saw them have grandkids, and they all became family.

"That's what this shop is all about - it's the people, it's the generations."

Despite the saleyards no longer operating, a lot of the agents, buyers and farmers still come for their fish and chips once, twice and some even three-times a week.

"We love them like a family." Effey said.

"One thing that Mum and Dad are really good at is being loyal to Ballarat," George said.

"Our meat ... everything comes from Ballarat. Veggies, our fish supply is from Melbourne of course, but they're the most loyal people to people that look after them as well.

"We don't chop and change the fish man, we don't chop and change the meat man."

And with the growth of Ballarat's west, the shop took on a new generation of customers.

"It's the new generation now that's just down the road," George said.

"People that we haven't seen before are coming in ... they're coming in again, and we get to know their names and we get to know their families.

"Now, newer generations are coming from what's down the road - we never thought 30, 40 years ago there would be all of these new houses.

"The Commonwealth Games is a new thing as well; that's going to be interesting. I don't think we'll be there to see that," George said.

George said he had noticed a change in the way they interacted with customers, noting an increase in the amount of phone orders over the past four or five years.

"It's changed from what it was back in the '80s when you'd watch it get cooked in front of you, you'd talk about football, you'd talk about politics, the weather, and you'd get to know their family and all that sort of thing," he said.

"Now it's a phone - there can be no-one in the shop, probably 25 orders waiting to get picked up and it's just, 'Thank you, thank you'.

"Society has changed from what it was back in the '80s, '90s and even early 2000s.

"We still have a lot of that interaction with the oldies. A lot of the youngies will order on the phone, pick it up, pay their money and go."

But customers are still fascinated by the green counters.

"We get phone calls ... people saying, 'Is this Latrobe Street? Is this the one with the green counters?'," George said.

After 43 years, the Hontzogloys look at what the future holds - with retirement not too far away for Emmanuel and Effey.

"We come, we work, do it for as long as we can do it for hopefully," George said. "We all say, 'It's coming to that end, slowly'.

"I'd like to get my kids out of school. Nicholas (completed) year 12, I'd love to get Emmanuel to year 12, get him to 18 and get his life sorted."

Nicholas and Emmanuel also work in the shop on a weekend.

"Dad is 76 in January, Mum is 73 next year. Dad still (arrives at work) at 6am every morning," George said.

"Dad's had a stroke, I've never seen a 76-year-old do what he does ... Mum's the same. We're still doing big hours."

When the time comes to pass the baton - possibly in the next couple of years - Effey, Emmanuel and George said they would like to see the shop continue to serve fish and chips.

"If a family wants to come in and work hard like Mum, Dad and I have, it would be an awesome place for it," George said.

"I'd love to drive past at 70-years-old and still see Latrobe Street fish shop on the window and say, 'Oh my god, the shop is still going'."

When the day eventually does come to finish up, Effey and Emmanuel said they would enjoy spending more time with their family. On their days off, each Sunday, they like to spend time at their home in Cardigan.

"I don't want to hear the phone," Effey said. "I want to enjoy my health, my garden, to cook, to cook for my kids."

George's Sundays are busy with his children's sporting commitments.

"You only have one day to get home, mow the lawns and do the housework," George said.

"You do all the normal family things. As a family we're very strong and very close."

Emmanuel loves to watch his beloved Carlton play in the AFL.

"One thing Dad's always said, 'Before I cark it, I want to win one more grand final'. Dad's passionate about his Carlton," George said.

"That's the great thing about Dad, (the customers) all know he's a Carlton supporter - he gives everyone as much of a hard time as what they give to him," George laughed.

The Hontzogloys said they had enjoyed every minute living and working in Ballarat and meeting so many people over the past 43 years.

"The customers and the people that we've met is the most important," George said.

"If it wasn't for the customers and the loyalty they've shown, this place would be nothing.

"It doesn't matter what colour the counters are."

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