Gaetano's 'grandchildren' Dante, left, and Gaetano Mansi

Published: 28 February, 2013
by DAN CARRIER

THE family behind the iconic Italian eaterie Marine Ices have sold the business.

The Mansi family, who have served generations of ice cream lovers at the Chalk Farm restaurant, announced this week they are retiring. Marine Ices will now be run by Italian restaurateurs Pontis.

After running the firm since the 1930s, the Mansis decided it was time to call it a day due to ill health and because the three men in charge – Dante, Gaetano and Gino – wanted to retire.

Dante said: “I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart who has come to Marine Ices. We have had some terrific times, and we will never forget you.

“As far as I was concerned, the restaurant was my baby – it was like my own dining club. Everyone who came in was my best mate and I really enjoyed it.

“I saw people come in as kids and then come back as parents and grandparents. Our ice cream has been made in Suffolk by Criterion Ices since last May, and I am happy no one has noticed any change in quality.”

He believed they had found a family with a similar background to their own to ensure their legacy was protected. He said: “Ponti’s is an excellent chain of restaurants, and one we are happy to have carry on our traditions at Chalk Farm.”

The news comes on the back of the sale of their ice cream production arm in the summer of 2012 to Criterion Ices.

The Ponti’s chain has run Italian restaurants for 50 years. Director Stefano Ipsani said the Marine Ices name and the business was in safe hands.

“Our families have been friends for many, many years,” he said. “I have fond memories of visiting as a boy. The Mansi family wanted to ensure that Marine Ices remained in safe hands so both families sat down to see what could be done to ensure this happened.”

The ice cream-making side of the business has also been sold to a company with an Anglo-Italian tradition. The Valenti family, who help run Criterion Ices, have a similar background to the Mansis. They came to England from Italy and began making ice cream in the 1920s.

Manager Jim Valenti said: “My grandfather came from Cassino and settled in south London where he ran a fish and chip shop and an ice cream parlour. There has always been a friendly, family rivalry in the Anglo-Italian ice cream trade and we have known them for years.”

Marine Ices now makes around a million litres of ice creams and sorbets every year. They are sold in places such as the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum.

Criterion managing director Peter Myatt said: “Marine Ices will carry on. We are even thinking of opening another Marine Ices parlour in north London.”

Story of the Mansis…

GAETANO Mansi was aged just 12 when he was sent to London in 1898 from his home town Ravello in southern Italy. He settled in Bermondsey with his cousins and, in 1928, opened a grocers in Drummond Street, Euston. 

His business boomed and soon he had another branch, in Euston Road – and it was this that started him off in the ice cream trade. Gaetano began to use fruit to make sorbets and his skill at creating delicious ices meant he soon had a roaring trade. In 1931, he opened a café – Mansi’s – in Haverstock Hill and it has been there ever since. In 1947, the shop was rebuilt to resemble a ship built by Aldo Mansi, the father of Dante and Gaetano. He was a cabinet maker and originally didn’t want to join the family firm – but after the war used his skills to refit the café. 

Using black and orange paint, he styled it into a ship’s bridge – and built in the porthole that gave the place its name.