A man who sold the “best ice cream around” has died.

Reginald “Dennis” Grillo died in hospital on December 29, 2017, aged 88, following an infection.

Dennis worked for Grillo’s ice cream, an Italian company which became one of the most popular choices in Watford in the 1960s before its factory in Sutton Road was shut down by Watford Council in 1969, making way for a multistorey car park.

The Grillo family also had a shop in Sutton Road, called ‘Grillo’s corner’, which was run by Dennis’s auntie.

It was Matteo Grillo, Dennis’s grandfather, who came over to England in the 1880s, who founded Grillo ice cream and brought it to Watford.

Ices were initially sold from a hand cart in locations on the corner of High Street and Market Street.

Watford Observer:

Dennis was sent to Egypt after he was conscripted into the army in the Second World War, in which he learned to drive tanks.

After the war he returned to England, where he met his wife Ruby, now 84, in his early twenties.

He began working in the Grillo family business alongside his father Percy and brother Ken, who now lives on the Isle of Wight.

He also has a sister, Pauline, who still lives in Hertfordshire.

Mr Grillo became a qualified referee, and was a keen footballer himself, playing for a number of local sides including Terriers football club.

Watford Observer:

He lived in the same house in Banbury Street, Watford, for 60 years. He had four daughters, Kathryn, Helen, Ann and Karen.

He also leaves seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

The former Holy Rood Catholic Primary School pupil was often found in the Red Lion pub in Vicarage Road and was a keen fan of darts and horse racing.

His daughter Helen Cole described Dennis as a “hardworking, family man”.

Mr Grillo’s funeral was held on January 30.