By Gabrielle Swan
ONE of the best known businesses in Holywood is expanding.
The iconic Percy’s Pitstop, which operates at Holywood’s Seapark, is set to share their frozen sweet treats with visitors to the Stormont Estate this June, as the three-generation strong ice-cream business expands.
Staff of Percy’s Pitstop, which includes father-daughter team, Robert and Louise Neill, are keen to share their delicious cold treats and snacks for those visiting Mo Mowlam Park.
This will be the third kiosk for the long running family business – which has been operating since the 1960s – with a branch in Belfast Zoo and at Holywood’s Seapark.
Robert Neill, a Holywood man, took over the business after his father Sydney passed away in 1982.
Serving the community for over 40 years, putting smiles on the faces of all who visit the ice-cream kiosk at the seafront, Robert fondly remembers working with his father in the 1970s.
The local man also recalls serving parents returning to Percy’s Pitstop with their own children, after scooping ice-cream for them during their own childhood.
With the new branch set to open in just a few months, Robert says he and his staff are ‘very much looking forward’ to growing the family business.
“I was born and reared into it and my father did it before me,” said Robert. “When he died in 1982, I took it over.
“I have been doing this for 41 years and my father would have done it from the late 60s. We have a third generation coming into it, with one of my daughters Louise, who is 20.
“We have ice cream vans as well, and we have a Kiosk in Belfast Zoo too. So, we are pretty spread around.
“We are very much looking forward to opening up that one as Mo Mowlam Park is a really busy site. It is probably going to be open during the summer time and weekends over the winter.
“I don’t think I could do anything else but work at Percy’s Pitstop,” said the local ice-cream scooper. “At one stage I tried to work for somebody else and I just couldn’t do it, back when I was about 18, ‘I thought this isn’t for me’.”
