EXCLUSIVE

I was aware the Ubiquitous Chip was approaching its landmark 50th birthday, and wondered how the lockdown was affecting celebration plans. I spoke exclusively with co-propietor Colin Clydesdale.

The owners of the world-famous Ubiquitous Chip, the longest-established family-owned restaurant in Glasgow, and certainly one of the oldest in Scotland, are determined to see it through to its 50th birthday in January – despite being closed for the first time in its long history due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Colin Clydesdale, pictured above, his wife Carol and their student son Ruaraidh, together with a skeleton staff, are collaborating with their longest-established Scottish suppliers to open a ready meal & fresh produce shop on Friday [May 22] and are preparing a weekly £95 high-end five-course menu for two with house wine for click-and-collect/home delivery starting at the end of the month. Customers who pre-order on www.ubiquitouschipshop.co.uk will be served from the Wee Chip bar off Ashton Lane.

Clydesdale, whose father Ronnie founded “The Chip” in 1971, served his apprenticeship under his father’s direction. He is donning his chef’s hat for the first time in many years to oversee the operation, which was trialled last month and proved so popular with the restaurant’s regulars that they had to stop to regroup and refine the way it operated.

“The horror of it is that I’ve had to buy myself a pair of oven gloves and learn how to switch on all our expensive computer-operated kitchen equipment for the first time since we bought it,” joked Clydesdale. “Doing takeaway is a completely different scenario from running the restaurant. There are no ebbs and flows. It’s full-on the whole time. But it’s fun because the buzz of the kitchen never goes away.”

On a more serious note, he added: “This situation is not of our volition. It’s been forced on us and are doing everything we possibly can in horrific circumstances to ensure The Ubiquitous Chip will still be here for our 50th anniversary in January.”

Clydesdale and his wife Carol have successfully expanded the business to include Stravaigin and Hanoi Bike Shop restaurants, and have created two new bars within the Chip since Ronnie died in 2010.

But since the Coronavirus pandemic brought about the lockdown in March the business, like others across the country, has been closed and staff have been put on furlough. “Since March, there has been no money coming in and although we have a business tax holiday, we still have substantial standing outgoings such as buildings insurance, internet, electricity, gas and maintenance costs. Our insurers say the pandemic wasn’t written into the contract.”

The extension of the Westminster government’s job retention furlough scheme until October is no comfort to many in hospitality. Like most independents in the industry, Clydesdale fears that if Chancellor Rishi Sunak continues to incrementally reduce government-funded furlough payments down from August, forcing employers to contribute the balance, the future looks as bleak as it was before furlough was introduced.

“We need furlough to remain as it is at 80% until we’re allowed to re-open the business safely, and we’ve been given absolutely no guidance on that whatsoever,” said Clydesdale. “Independent restaurateurs like us cannot afford to contribute increasing percentages of staff wages while there is no money coming in.”

“The problem is we don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing in order to re-open safely. We need clarity from the Westminster government. If we knew what they wanted us to do we would jump through hoops to do it. So far the information has been contradictory. They are telling people they can go back to work, but in our industry we can’t go back to work. We have to ask ourselves what was the point of the job retention scheme in the first place.

“The only definite we’re getting is that hospitality hasn’t a chance in the short term,” said Clydesdale. “We can’t see it getting any better before October, when the furlough scheme stops. There is nothing good about this situation. We are simply trying to adapt as we need to in order to survive. Knowing our customers want us to keep going is the best encouragement we could wish for.

“Over the years The Ubiquitous Chip has overcome many difficulties. My dad used to tell me I couldn’t imagine the awfulness of the three-day week, power cuts and the Army picking up rubbish bins and the Winter of Discontent of the 1970s, but this one trumps them all. It is a horror story that beats everything that went before. We are shut for the first time ever.

“Like all restaurants, The Ubiquitous Chip may need to change the way it operates even after lockdown is lifted but we are determined that, after all it’s been through, it will make it to its 50th birthday in January and beyond.

“We have a lot of great staff, suppliers and fiercely loyal customers behind us. So we’ll be doing everything in our power to get through and thrive again. We want The Chip to be a beacon of hope for all other restaurants in Scotland.”