A smokehouse and shop, not a place to eat

The first thing to get straight is the format. Fortune's is a smokehouse with a small shop attached, and the kippers are sold to take away, so there are no tables, no cups of tea and no sit-down breakfast. If you want a cooked kipper on a plate, buy here and cook at home, or head elsewhere in Whitby for a sit-down meal.

What you are visiting for is the smell and the process as much as the purchase. The smokehouse sits among the higgledy-piggledy cottages of Henrietta Street, and the distinctive smoky aroma is a familiar greeting as you walk along the cobbles. Expect a small, old-fashioned shop rather than a visitor centre, and allow your eyes a minute to adjust.

Where it is and how to walk there

The address is 22 Henrietta Street, Whitby, YO22 4DW. From the centre of Whitby, walk over the swing bridge towards the east side of the town, then start up the cobbles via Sandgate or Church Street. Keep following the cobbles up until you reach the 199 steps, walk past them and continue onto Henrietta Street, where the shop is on your right. If you do not smell it first, you will see it.

Allow time for the climb as well as the shop; the route is uphill and uneven in places, with cobbles underfoot, so sensible shoes beat sandals. Our Whitby pubs and food landmarks page has a short guide to each named place we cover.

Opening times and the sell-out rule

Fortune's publishes its hours as 9am to 3pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 1pm on Sunday. Crucially, on any day the shop sells out it closes early, so the later you leave it the greater the chance of finding the door shut. Treat the published times as the maximum window, not a guarantee.

The practical answer is to come early in the day, especially at weekends, bank holidays and during school breaks when Whitby fills up. If kippers are the reason for your detour, go straight up Henrietta Street rather than saving it for the end of a walk. A quick phone call ahead is worth it if you are travelling a distance, and the shop's own page carries the number.

Cash only, and sold from the shop only

Fortune's states plainly that the shop accepts cash only, and that its kippers and products are obtainable from the shop itself. Bring notes and coins, and do not assume you can order online or have kippers posted home. This catches out visitors who have stopped carrying cash, so withdraw some before you climb the hill.

What to buy and how to cook it

A kipper is a smoked herring, and at Fortune's the fish are gutted by hand before being hung in the smokehouse to cure, which is why the shop smells the way it does. Buy what you can carry home comfortably, keeping in mind that smoked fish is pungent in a bag or a car. Staff can tell you how the day's batch is looking.

Two straightforward methods cover most kitchens. For jugged kippers, bring a pan of water to the boil, remove the head and tail, stand the fish upright in the hot water and leave off the heat for around six minutes, which keeps the smell down. For grilled kippers, add a knob of butter and grill for around five minutes until the skin is crisp and the fish hot, wrapping in foil if you want to keep more of the oils. Serve with brown bread and real butter; a stotty from Botham's of Whitby is a local pairing worth knowing.

Prices are not published in the material available for this guide, so check the shop or ask at the counter rather than budgeting from an old figure. The cost is one reason visitors nip in for a small bag rather than a week's worth, and it also makes Fortune's an easy add-on to a morning on the east side.

How long to allow

Fifteen to twenty minutes in the shop is plenty for most people: a look at the smokehouse frontage, a chat and a purchase. The walk up and back down takes longer than the visit itself, so treat the whole outing as an hour if you are combining it with the 199 steps or the abbey headland. Go early to avoid the crush of day-trippers on the narrow cobbles.

Nearby after your visit

Henrietta Street sits below the abbey and beside the 199 steps, so the obvious next move is to climb them for the headland and ruins, or wander down to the harbour. The old east side rewards slow walking, with the White Horse and Griffin Whitby among the historic buildings nearby if you want a pub meal afterwards.

Five generations on Henrietta Street

Whitby Civic Society records that the Fortune family has been making and supplying kippers at the Henrietta Street smokehouse since 1872, with a fifth generation currently running the business and a sixth lined up. The same page gives 1873 as the year William Fortune founded the business, so you will see both dates about depending on which part of the history you read; neither changes what the shop is today. The society awarded the smokehouse a blue plaque, which is the marker to look for on the wall.

The family firm received a Les Routiers award in 2002 and has been recommended in Good Food Guides, according to the same civic society page; chefs including Rick Stein and James Martin have spoken about the kippers, and Mary Berry called the smokehouse a real gem. That reputation is why the tiny shop draws visitors from as far as Australia and Canada. It is also why you should not expect a quiet, undiscovered corner on a summer Saturday.

Is the climb up Henrietta Street worth it?

Yes, if you want kippers to take home and you go early with cash in your pocket. Fortune's is a working smokehouse with a tiny shop, not a café, so plan the visit as a short buy-and-go stop on the east side of Whitby rather than a meal out. Check the shop's hours and ring ahead if you are travelling far, then walk up the cobbles past the 199 steps and let your nose lead you.