We were surprised and dismayed last week to learn that Green’s of Whitby had closed its doors after 15 years of serving proper fish and seafood. I’ve been going there on and off for 12 of those 15 years, a welcome bolthole from the crowds and the overriding Whitby offer of fish and chips. At its peak I rated it the best fish restaurant on the Yorkshire coast.
Green’s of Whitby
Rob Green was and is a most accomplished chef. We’ll miss his salt and pepper squid, his crisp topped Whitby crab, his ways with seabass, brill and the less familiar gurnard and John Dory.
If I remember correctly, he was the first, though since much copied, to name the trawler that landed his fish. Easy enough when he could (just about) see the ships unloading in the lower harbour. The Whitby fish auction is much reduced. Whitby’s Resolution and Our Lass land in Peterhead now, the fish transported less romantically by road to the chippies of Whitby.
Rob Green is moving on to new ventures which he is so far keeping close to his chest. We know that Emma Stothard, his wife is making a huge success of her sculptures in wire and willow, seen to good effect last year at the Staithes Festival when she created two mighty lobsters for the harbour, one of which will return to stand at the village entrance – a fitting reminder that lobster potting still continues there. We wish Rob and Emma good luck and will update you when we hear more..