As a famous ice cream shop opens its latest Kent venue and unveils plans to launch another 4,500 miles away in Dubai, reporter Chantal Weller looks back at the rich history and humble beginnings of Morelli’s…

Bibi Morelli remembers exactly how her father’s ice cream smelled when she went downstairs each morning.

Getting ready for school, a milky and vanilla scent swirled throughout the parlour, as he put the finishing touches to the day's fresh batch of gelato.

“It was fantastic growing up," she explained.

"We would come home from school and go straight to the shop to get an ice cream, and then go upstairs to do our homework.

“I would go down in the morning and they would be making ice cream in the factory. I always remember the smell of it – it was amazing.”

Originally from the Italian village of Casalattico, the Morellis landed in the UK in 1907, bringing with them decades' worth of ice cream-making experience.

Soon after, Bibi's great-grandfather Mario would sell gelato from a bicycle across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In 1932, with their eyes on slightly sunnier climes, the Morellis opened their first modestly sized parlour in Viking Bay, on Broadstairs beachfront.

And such is the Morelli tradition, Mario's son Giuseppe took over in 1954 and secured a second shop in the town, which doubled up as an espresso bar.

“It was tiny,” Bibi explained.

“He took over another building and expanded into it and made it what it looks like today.

“It is in the same style today as what it was in 1957 when they did the refurbishment.

"We now very carefully renovate it but keep the original style, which is why it is art-deco style.

“The white chairs are vintage Lloyd Loom chairs; he’s a famous designer.”

Said to have been the country's first parlour of its kind, customers would queue day in and day out to choose from a heady rainbow of more than 20 flavours.

Bibi explained: “My great-great-grandfather started making ice cream in the late 1800s. We started properly in 1907 and opened Broadstairs in 1932.

"We think it is one of the oldest ice cream parlours in the UK. I am the fifth generation running it."

With shops now in Covent Garden, London, and more recently Harbour Street in Whitstable, to say Morelli's has gone from strength to strength would be an understatement.

Indeed, the lion's share of its success - which has seen Harrods selling the desserts - comes from the family's long line of ice-cream-making ancestry.

Describing how Morelli's has been manned by the same bosses and cleaner for the past 50 years, Bibi added: "It is very much a family business still.

“My godson is training to take over as manager and my parents, husband, brother, and his family, are all very involved in the business.

“The lady who cleans the shop is 82 and has been coming every day for the past 50 years.

“It is really a family business. One of the loveliest things is that we get so many customers coming in to say they used to come to Morelli’s as children.

“We love that we can be a generational and a family shop that people come to year after year.”

Now, Bibi hopes the same smell of milk infused with vanilla downstairs in the Viking Bay shop will permeate parlours more than 4,000 miles away.

“We are happy with our Kent and London presence,” she said.

“We might open another store in Kent, we just have no plans yet and are continuing to grow abroad.

“We are going to open a third shop in Dubai and our first in Tashkent [the capital of Uzbekistan] in the Autumn.

“We now also have our own brand of coffee so customers can buy our beans and the coffee as Nespresso pods.

"We are also going to offer merchandise so people have something they can take home with them that won’t melt.

“I never dreamt I would be running the business internationally. I was very happy to eat the ice cream but I never thought I would be involved in the business side.”

Regardless of Morelli's overseas success, Kent will always hold a special place in the family's heart, having last month opened the parlour in Harbour Street, Whitstable.

“We have shops in Covent Garden, Broadstairs and Whitstable now,” Bibi said.

“We love the seaside town.”