IT’S the end of an era for a family fish and chip firm which has been frying for fifty years.

Ill-health is forcing Peter McGowan, (58) to retire from The Market Chippy, where he works alongside his father-in-law, Derek Pilling, and his daughter, Natasha.

“I’m going to miss the people because they are more like friends than customers,” said Mr McGowan, who is leaving the business due to multiple sclerosis.

“Over the years I’ve been invited to their birthdays, weddings and, because I’m a Christian minister, I even officiated at a customer’s wedding.”

It was Mr Pilling who established the business in 1968. Mr McGowan took over in 1986, but his father-in-law still helps out.

Mr McGowan’s daughter, Natasha (28) also works in the shop.

She said: “It’s fun working in my dad, we have a good laugh.”

The chippy is a real community hub and virtually all the customers are regulars.

One of them is retired market trader, Mr Ibrahim Khan, who said: “It’s the tastiest chippy I know, with great staff who are very friendly.”

The reputation of the food has spread beyond Bolton and, every so often, two coaches full of people from Manchester’s Chinese community arrive to tuck in.

“They reckon we sell the tastiest fish,” laughed Mr McGowan, who lives in Ramsbottom.

During its 50-year history the Market Chippy has become well known locally and has featured on television on a number of occasions, most recently in a programme fronted by newsreader and broadcast journalist Tony Morris.

Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville also popped in for lunch while filming on Bolton Market.

“They enjoyed their meal,” said Mr McGowan. “Angela Rippon said there was no danger of us appearing on Rip Off Britain!”

After leaving school at 15, he worked in a factory and, later, a mill. He also served in the Territorial Army for a number of years.

But the chippy is the job that has given him most enjoyment and satisfaction, which accounts for his reluctance to leave.

He has asked Bury-based Blacks Business Brokers to find a new owner to take over the lease with a guide price of £59,950, but he intends to keep on working until a buyer is found.

“We’ve had a great time and anyone who’s prepared to put the work in will make a good living out of it.”

He said he hopes that whoever buys the business will continue to employ his team of loyal staff.

Although he is retiring, Mr McGowan won’t be putting his feet up.

One of the activities on which Mr McGowan intends to concentrate on is his role as a Christian minister. He has preached all around the world and gives regular sermons at the New Life Pentecostal Church in the Cheshire town of Winsford.

In the course of Mr McGowan’s ministry, he has been involved in raising significant amounts of money for charity, including a project that has supplied a large number of ambulances to Israel.