Mum opens accessible chippy so autistic son ‘has a job for life’

A mum from Lancashire has opened up a chippy so that her autistic son ‘has a job for life’, after a stranger’s comment online. 

Gillian Jervis opened Oliver’s Chippy in Warton, near Blackpool, after a stranger’s comments on a forum online – calling her son Oliver ‘a burden on the state’ – prompted her to prove them wrong.

About the comment, Gillian told ITV News: “I sometimes think I dreamt the comment and that I made it all up, because why would you say something like that?

“Have I read it wrong? I went through all of those emotions – it knocked me sideways.”

The mum-of-four decided to start a business in her son’s name and opened Oliver’s Chippy in 2021 – where Gillian is already training the 12-year-old so that he can take over when he grows up.

On why she chose to open a chip shop business for Oliver she said: “It gives him his structure, it’s a bit like school; his daily routine that he has to have.

“What you end up doing everyday – prepping the food, serving the food, making up the food, stocking the fridges… he’ll learn all that before he starts at sixteen.”

Oliver’s autism means he has some communication difficulties though he is able to express himself in other ways.

The chippy is built with facilities to help people with communication and accessibility issues by using visual screens on the tills instead of words and phrases.

As Gillian explains: “You’ve got people with a stutter, so I’ve looked at it this way. Before people start to speak, they look at pictures don’t they?

“It’s better to see a picture of what you want, it gives you the confidence to come into my shop and order what you want without saying it.”

Not only do these images help Oliver, they also help customers who may communicate better with visual aids. Not only this, the chippy also offers services to help make it easier for all neurodivergent people to place their orders.

Gillian said: “We do have a disability point access, we do have a ramp, we do have a visual menu.

“If you came in and you want your order all separate and you said ‘jigsaw’ we know that it means everything’s separate.” The chippy can make sure different food isn’t touching others by offering cartons with separated sections.

Since opening, the chip shop has fed more than 1,300 children and supported other families across the Fylde Coast. This includes giving away a family holiday, an iPad, air fryer and over 100 competition meals.

She continued: “We had the cost of living crisis, fuel shortages, the after effects of Covid and people not working as they were, with people losing their jobs due to Covid as well.

“So I just said to Arran, ‘shall we feed the kids for free?’ He said ‘yes – but how are we going to do it?’ I said ‘I don’t know, but we’ll find a way of doing it’.”

Opening in 2021 during the pandemic, the first Easter holidays saw the chip shop take a financial hit as it gave out free meals for children in the area.

But during the summer holidays later that same year, the business was supported by Bryning with Warton Parish Council as a Go Fund Me was started to raise the funds.