The aroma of vinegar-soaked Cabrelli chips alongside greased-up battered fish was unforgettable for generations of Dundonians.
The Cabrelli chippy empire started from humble beginnings in the early 1900s with shops in the Hilltown and Lawton Road.
The family also ran shops in the old Hawkhill and West Port.
The empire was started by Italian exile Andrew Cabrelli and their famous chips are still discussed in reverent tones in Dundee today.
Fondly remembering the highs and lows of their beloved family business, Andrew’s grandson Mark, now 65, takes up the tale of chip fat and ice creams.
The Cabrellis arrive in Dundee
So how did the family end up in Dundee?
Mark said: “In the late 1800s, there was a lot of poverty in Italy.
“There was no work – a lot of families were destitute.
“All the work was in the new world – northern European countries like France, or Britain, or America.
“Most of the Italians in the south of Italy, because it was very, very poor got in a boat and went to Ellis Island in the US.
“But the ones from the north of Italy tended to gravitate north.
“My family were from a small village in northern Italy, close to Parma.
“We kept moving as work became available.
“I’ve got relations that are actually in Paris.
“They stopped there on their way up – they didn’t make it as far as Scotland!
“It was my grandfather that settled in Dundee.
“Someone from our village had managed to find work here, and so he invited him to come over and get some work of his own.”
Andrew Cabrelli took on one of the family chip shops in the Hilltown in the late 1920s.
From there the Cabrelli’s expanded their business and opened another shop on the Lawton Road.
Mark added: “In those days it was all about having a contact – someone you knew in the country who could help you get on your feet.”
Andrew set up home in Hawkhill and had two children – a daughter, Mary, and a son Peter who was born in 1910.
Peter Cabrelli
Peter Cabrelli started his footballing career in the junior ranks before signing for Dundee in 1930 but never managed to break into the first-team.
He joined Forfar Athletic and during this spell he also played some matches for Genoa and Inter Milan whilst back in Italy to visit family.
Peter was offered professional terms as player/coach with Inter Milan but turned down the move to Serie A due to commitments at his dad’s chippy.
He eventually went on to sign a full-time deal with Falkirk before joining Raith Rovers until the outbreak of the Second World War when he was called up for military service.
While stationed as a driver with the army in England, he guested for various teams including Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Bradford City, Millwall and Reading.
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, he turned out for Dundee United and his career wound down with spells at Arbroath then Montrose before he retired in 1948.
Peter’s football exploits made him a local celebrity and his marriage to Sundie in 1944 and the birth of his four sons were well documented in the Evening Telegraph.
When he eventually hung up his boots he concentrated full-time on the family’s Hawkhill shop where he and Sundie would put in 12-hour shifts in the kitchen.
Mark remembers: “Every morning, my dad went to the fish market on Dock Street.
“There were a lot of stalls in that area full of fish that had been brought in overnight from Aberdeen.
“So he bought boxes of haddock and cod from there, and then went up the Hawkhill to the shop where he’d give them to my mum.
“My mum was the one to gut all the fish, which was a horrendous task.
“We didn’t have a chipper either.
“My dad had to prepare all our tatties by hand.
“The shop was just a shack at first.
“Then after the business picked up, it was turned into a proper shop.
“After all the morning preparations were done, we opened at lunchtime for the first fry-up.
“It was a manic time.
“Being where it was, at the heart of the city’s jute mills, we were responsible for the lunchtime rush when they finally got a break.
“It was the same at teatime.
“My parents had to nip home in between times for their own food and then dash back for the next rush.
“We’d open again about 4pm and wouldn’t close again until midnight.
“That was pretty typical.
“People enjoyed sitting there into the wee hours and chatting.
“Over the weekends, we could still be there at two in the morning.”
Peter might have left Dens after only a short spell but the club remained in his heart even if he’d swapped the dark blue kit for his chef’s apron long ago.
When he went into the family business he had a big custom-made stained glass mural which was located behind the frying pans.
It was a scene from Dens Park during a game and Peter was one of the players.
Cabrelli’s chippies became an institution across Dundee and football fans returning from Dens or Tannadice will well remember the Caird Avenue shop.
Many took notice of the mural when they came in for their penny’s-worth of scrapings.
In the days before BYOB, Peter would encourage customers to bring their own papers for a free bag of chips.
However, it wasn’t just their chips that were popular, which were a change from other local chippies due to their thin-cut.
The Cabrelli’s also had a van and sold their ice-creams across the city.
Sundie continued to gut the fish the whole time she and Peter had the shop, but Mark remembers that his parents did eventually get their own chipper.
He said: “We did get a chipper a few years later that would skin the potatoes for us – and that made things so much easier.
“But it was always a tough life for my mum and dad and I think that’s why they didn’t want anything of their four sons to go into the business.
“They always wanted us to do something else.
“‘Get a job, an education’; they were determined for us to go to university.”
End of an era
The Cabrelli family had chippies across Dundee, but Peter and Sundie’s enterprise came to an end in 1973.
Their shop on the Hawkhill was their only remaining business by the time the University took it over as a compulsory purchase in the late 60s.
Mark said: “Eventually the shop was taken over by the university as a compulsory purchase.
“As the university expanded, both their house and the shop were taken over.
“They gave my dad some money and the lease of another shop in the West Port, but it never really worked for him.
“He was only there a few years.
“He retired after that.”
Peter Cabrelli passed away in 1994 after two years of illness.
He was cared for in the Royal Victoria Hospital until his death, aged 85.
Sundie lived in the West End of Dundee until last year.
She received a warm welcome when she rejoined the other residents at Tigh-Na-Muirn care home in 2020 after 3 weeks of isolation due to being diagnosed with coronavirus.
In her late 90s, she was a much-loved member of the care home and was well known for her sense of humour.
She passed away in 2021.
Mark said: “My mum passed away last year.
“I bought the old house, so it’s nice to still have those links to Dundee.”
Much like his grandfather, Mark went off in search of a new world and moved to the States.
He said: “I’m retired myself now, but I worked in the States for most of my career.
“My family is here, including my daughter.
“We’ve all moved away from Dundee – much like our ancestors left their hometown all those years ago.”
However, not all of the family’s links have been removed from the city.
A fire at the beginning of this year damaged several businesses on Caird Avenue including the New Golden Star which used to be one of the Cabrelli shops.
The fire caused the front panel to fall away and revealed the old Cabrelli’s sign.
It was a reminder of past times when the air outside hung with the smell of vinegar and chips as people inside wolfed down a fish supper with ice cream for afters.
The fading letters of the old shop sign remind us that while Cabrelli’s chip shops may be gone from Dundee, they’ll never be forgotten.
