He’s a man who didn’t so much get on his bike to find work but build one and stick a barbecue on it.
So it’s no surprise that with Riley’s Fish Shack in Tynemouth entering its fifth year, owner Adam Riley has plans for the future which could provide a boost for the local fishing industry.
They include the opening of a ‘wet fish shop’ - where fresh fish, not frozen or cooked, is sold - around Easter time at a shop in Percy Park Road.
In the more distant future he has plans for the old Ice Tower on the North Shields Western Quay. He hopes to set up a market there, and maybe a langoustine bar.
“North Shields is England’s largest langoustine port,” Adam said. “About 1,000 tons of langoustines a year are landed there and 95% of them are exported.
“The idea is to open a market which acts like a catalyst and helps the fishing industry. Maybe we could have cooks, cooking there. Michel Roux Jr said he’d do the launch.”
If it comes off it won’t be this year and Adam has other “intertwined projects” of the ‘watch this space’ variety.
However, one project that he wants to get done sooner rather than later is setting up a new production unit, where staff fillet the fish landed that day to be transported to the Fish Shack to be cooked.
“The one we have is a little too far the other side of North Shields,” he said. “We’ve been looking for somewhere on the fish quay so it is more a part of the action, as opposed to being detached from it.”
A more fanciful idea is one cooked up with his cousin who lives in Newcastle, Australia.
“We’ve joked about opening a restaurant in Newcastle on both sides of the world,” he revealed.
