Smokey Joe’s Diner
Charlie Phillips
We give you what we got. We get you in and we get you out.
I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and my parents brought me to London in the 50s. In those days there were a lot of bachelors from the Caribbean and different families used to cook for different people. My family had a cookshop – it wasn’t licensed – and my mother used to cook for 15–20 people in our home.
I started Smokey Joe’s in the late 80s. It wasn’t a restaurant; it was a diner. It sat 12 people and it was as if people were in my living room. We had a blackboard menu that changed every day. We had three main dishes and when we sold out, we closed up and went home.
If I had been in central London I could have put my prices up and made a fortune but I liked to keep prices low. I could do you a red snapper meal for £4. I liked cooking and people liked my food. That’s what mattered.
When I wanted to expand at the time, I couldn’t get any finance. The bank told me I wouldn’t last more than two and a half years. I lasted 11 years and 8 months. I was ahead of my time.
Image: courtesy Charlie Phillips
