Pierottis retire after a century serving Paisley Scotland

End of an era for the Pierottis after a century serving Paisley

DURING the past century the Pierotti family has become as much a part of Paisley Scotland as the town hall clock.

For decades thousands of Buddies queued up to enjoy their fish and chips – there was nothing to beat them, just ask anyone who savoured the taste.

And in recent years they’ve brought the news to thousands of families from their shop in Rowan Street.

Owned by popular brothers Louis, Albert and Michael, the newsagent’s was always more than just a place to buy papers or a pint of milk.

Cheery smiles and quirky banter are the trademarks of the Pierottis.

It also became a haven where Buddies could escape the rigours of daily life and enjoy a chat or a bit of a laugh.

As one customer said: “I went in with the weight of the world on my shoulders and I came out laughing and joking.”

And that’s exactly how it was for everyone.

For nearly 20 years, Louis, Albert and Michael provided shoulders to cry on, witty one-liners to make their customers laugh – and, of course, service with a smile.

And that’s how they’ll be remembered as they finally bow out of business after two decades in the popular store.

It’s the sad end of an era not just for the brothers, but for the family as a whole.

For the past century there has always been at least one member of the clan running their own business in the town. But not any more.

When Louis, 70, Albert, 66, and Michael, 60, cashed up for the last time, they said goodbye, not just to their newsagents shop, but also to a little piece of family history.

And it was a moment fraught with emotion for them all.

Michael said: “There were tears in our eyes, especially because of how our customers were affected. They were so sorry to see us go, and we got 90 cards wishing us all the best as well as bottles of whisky and wine.

“Our friends were our customers and our customers were also our friends.

“It’s hard to say goodbye to all of that, but at our age we feel it’s the right time to bow out.”

THE Pierotti empire can be traced back to humble beginnings at the start of the 20th century.

In 1903, Louis, Albert and Michael’s grand- uncle John Doninni set up a cafe in Smithhills Street, and so the amazing story of the family’s long and successful business partnership with Paisley began.

Several years later, in 1916, the brothers’ dad, Guiseppe, stopped off in the town to make some money as he headed to visit family in America.

He began working for John Doninni in his cafe – and became a familiar sight cycling around the streets selling ice cream from the basket of his three-wheeler bike.

Soon he fell in love with Paisley, so much so he cancelled his plans to travel to the States and made the town his home.

Guiseppe – who was affectionately known as Wee Joe – only gave up his ice-cream seller’s job when he had to return to Italy to fight in the first world war, but his love of Paisley brought him ‘home’ just a few short years later.

Said Louis: “He returned in 1921 with his young brother, Adolfo, and together they set up in business.

“We’re not too sure exactly where they started off, but we do know that my father worked all over the town with fish and chip shops in Mill Street, Bank Street, Orchard Street, Broomlands Street and Gauze Street.”

In the years that followed, Guiseppe would spend six months ploughing all his efforts into establishing a new shop, before selling up and returning to Italy for several weeks to see his family in Barga.

On his return to Paisley, he would set up business elsewhere in town, and soon became a familiar and well-loved local figure.

In the early 1930s, Guiseppe returned to Italy on one of his regular holidays and fell head over heels in love with a local lady called Olimpia.

The couple tied the knot and returned to Paisley as man and wife, where their first baby daughter, Diana, came into the world.

Soon after, the family upped sticks and moved to Barrhead to set up another successful fish and chip shop. There, Louis, Albert and Eva were born.

But they didn’t settle in the town and in 1938 they moved back to their beloved Paisley – the place they now called home.

The Pierottis were soon back on their feet with the opening of a fish and chip shop at the corner of Moncrieff Street and Back Sneddon Street, where the Royal Bank of Scotland now stands.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing as they struggled to bring in a wage and stay together as a family.

Said Louis: “My father was interned during the war, even though he had never returned to Italy because of the fascist regime.

“He had a bad experience with the local party leader who had threatened him because of his non-support of Fascism.

“In 1942, he was released and was the first internee to be allowed back into Paisley, which was a protected area because of the Fleming & Ferguson shipbuilding firm.

“But in the meantime, my mother was ordered out of Paisley – which was rather unfair. She had no business, four small children and nowhere to go.”

Luckily, Guiseppe had a cousin in Barrhead who took Olimpia and her family in. She earned her keep by working in his fish and chip shop.

Said Louis: “We lived in an outhouse which was subject to dampness.

“As a result, my sister Diana caught rheumatic fever, leaving her with a heart defect which still bothers her today.”

Around 1950 Guiseppe fell ill and Louis left school to help run the shop in Paisley.

But he was called up for national service and left town three years later.

He joined the Royal Signals, and Albert followed in his footsteps with a Forces career as a radar operator.

When Louis returned in 1955 he threw himself back into the family business, before taking the decision to embark on a business venture of his own.

He explained: “In 1962 the chance of a shop in Old Sneddon Street came up, so I wrote to Albert who was still in the Army to ask if he’d be interested in going into business. He said yes.

“The whole family actually worked together for a while, then mum and dad decided to retire in 1969 and that’s when Michael joined the business.

“We’ve all worked together ever since.”

It wasn’t long before the trend for Indian and Chinese cuisine began to hit the fish and chip shop in the pocket.

The brothers also found themselves crippled by immense bills – with rates rocketing from £200 a year to £400 a week in the 1970s.

It soon became clear the business was sinking – and, just in the nick of time, eagle-eyed Michael came up with the solution to all their problems.

He explained: “I spotted a shop in Erskine and we moved in over there.

“We had a fish and chip shop in Bargarran for 21 years, and we loved every minute of it.”

Continued Louis: “In 1985 we took the plunge and bought a plot of land next to the newsagents in Rowan Street in Paisley and we set up another fish and chip shop there.

“Michael is an architectural draughtsman to trade and he designed the shop, which we built from scratch.

“Then, a year later, we rented it out and bought over the newsagent’s instead.

“We ran our wee newsagent and our Erskine shop together for many years, but eventually we sold the fish and chip shop in Bargarran in 2000 and concentrated on the newsagent’s in Paisley instead.”

It was a whole new experience for the brothers, who were experts at running a busy chippie – but suddenly found they had bigger fish to fry.

Michael explained: “Running the newsagent’s was a revelation.

“In the past we’d had to get up early in the morning to go and get the fish, and we’d be working right through until 11pm.

“We hardly ever saw our families, and we often found ourselves putting in more than 70 hours a week.

“The newsagent’s was very, very different – but equally hard work.

“Two of us would always be working together, and we usually ended up putting in about 69 hours a week there too.”

AS the years passed, the brothers built up a stronger bond than ever before as they worked together day-in, day-out.

Said Louis: “Thankfully we’ve always got on really well, and the great thing about being in business together is we know we can trust one another.

“We have also met so many lovely people over the years – I’d say the folk in the Lochfield and Thrushcraigs areas are among the nicest in Paisley. Soon we had loads of really loyal customers at the Rowan Street shop.

“They became – and still are – friends as well as customers, they really are the salt of the earth.

“There was more banter and corny jokes fired over the counter than you can imagine.

“Now that we have retired, we will always hold those friends close to our hearts. They gave us such a good life we did not mind the long hours.”

Things turned sour in February 2002, when two armed raiders burst into Pierotti’s newsagent’s and threatened Albert and Michael with a gun and a knife.

Said Albert: “I was at the customer side of the counter when this guy came in with a hood up, pulled my hair back and put a bread knife to my throat. He threatened to cut it if I didn’t empty the till. Meanwhile the other guy had a gun to Michael’s head. The pair of us just went into shock.”

The brothers handed over the money and the yobs made their escape.

But not before they had let their identity slip.

Said Michael: “We recognised the chap with the gun. He had put a scarf over his face but it had slipped and we saw who he was.

“Not long after, a scarf was found outside the shop and I was called in to the police station to ID it. It turned out it belonged to Louis – he’d lost his scarf outside! It caused a bit of drama but we were able to have a laugh about it afterwards.”

The armed thugs – George Sweeney and Jamie Haggerty – were later locked up for a total of 21 years for a string of shop and post office hold-ups.

Just 10 days after the terrifying knife and gun raid in their shop, another sick thug targeted Pierotti’s newsagents in what the brothers describe as a ‘copycat’ attack.

Said Michael: “It was quarter past five in the morning and I was sorting out the papers when a chap ran in and threatened me with a screwdriver.

“I reckon he was an opportunist who thought he’d try his luck after what had happened to us before, but I managed to chase him off with a stick and he got nothing.”

In spite of the two frightening ordeals, the brothers say they never lost faith in the community they served.

“The people were just too nice for that,” Michael explained.

“These two attacks were the only trouble we really had in all our years in business.

“We didn’t let it shake our faith at all.”

The brothers carried on in business for another couple of years, before deciding the time had come to cash up once and for all.

Said Albert: “Basically we’re at the age where we feel it’s time to retire.”

Louis, who is a keen writer, is spending his spare time penning a children’s novel based on his teenage escapades with his brothers in Italy.

Albert – who has survived two heart attacks and a triple bypass – is now taking it easy and devoting more time to his family.

And Michael is about to start a part-time job in B&Q.

He said: “We’re lucky because we’ve always had good health.

“What’s important now is making the most of the time we have and our new lives.”

And Louis laughed: “We will miss all the customers who came into the shop to see us.

“But we need to work on getting out of the habit of waking up at the crack of dawn.

“That’s what happens when you’ve run a newsagent’s for 20 years.”

He added: “It’s the first time there’s not been a fish and chip shop, a cafe or a newsagent in Paisley run by the Pierottis for about a century.

“It is the end of an era – but our name will live on through my sons, John Paul and Michael, who have set up a hairdressing business in the town.”

Article taken from the icRenfrewshire.co.uk site