The heritage of one of Paisley’s most loved businesses and its popular owner have been celebrated in a unique video.
Castlevecchi and its owner Alfredo – dad of musician Paolo Nutini – feature in the short film which seeks to highlight its connection to the local community over its 100-year history.
Made by aspiring filmmaker Fiona Stuart, the four-minute short story showcases the character who has attracted customers from across Renfrewshire to his fish and chip shop for decades.
Alfredo, who is affectionately known as Freddie, opens up on the changes that he has noticed in Paisley throughout his 50 years in the shop, after starting there when he left school.
The chip shop has been in the same location since 1914, and it was Freddie’s grandparents who turned it into a chip shop after it originally opened as an ice parlour.
Now, two world wars and a pandemic later, the shop is still standing and is a beloved business on Paisley’s New Street.
Speaking in the film, Freddie says he was worked hard to retain the charm of the eatery, and while many people now order online, he still knows the orders of his regulars by heart.
He said: “Young ones now all want Just Eat. They all want it delivered.
“Whereas [ordering online], you are losing your customers and you don’t know who they are.
“You are just pressing a button.
“But in the old days, people would come in, you would get to know them and they became friends. They became part of life.”
The chip shop owner admits that there is not many places like his left.
And that is what inspired Fiona, a filmmaker from London, to share Freddie’s story with the world.
Fiona filmed the documentary as part of the Step Up to Shooting AP training programme, which looks to give people breaking into the industry the skills and experience needed.
She explained the idea to film Freddie spawned after a chance encounter in his shop, thanks to her aunt Mary Rose and her uncle John Stuart from Renfrew.
Speaking exclusively to the Paisley Daily Express, she said: “I always wanted to make my own film.
“I am not a local, so I didn’t know any stories in Glasgow although I had an idea of what I wanted to do.
“I happened to go in one day [to Castlevecchi] with my auntie and uncle as they go quite a lot.
“They took me for a chippy tea, and I just fell in love with the chip shop straight away.
“And I feel it must have been fate as Freddie happened to be there and I know he doesn’t work that much in the shop any more.
“I am quite a bit of an old soul, and the way people came in and just sat down, with Freddie already knowing the order, made it special to see.
“I just wanted to be able to tell the story of Freddie to the world and how he fell in love with a job he had walked into when he was a young boy.”
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