What's happened to our fish & Chips ?

[grinder 10]

There was a time back in the past when Fish Chips and peas was our staple diet, our favorite nosh, but now it cost an arm and a leg and usually looks and tastes like warmed up left overs from the night before ....

You couldn't beat walking down the street eating a bag full of red hot chips back then, but now !!!!

We went to Bakewell the other day and it cost us £16 for fish and chips twice and chips and fish cake twice and the stuff looked and tasted so bad none of us could Finnish it

I can go to Chesterfield market and get 10 pound of new potatoes for one pound fifty and yet it cost nearly as much for a small bag of horrible looking cardboard tasting warmed up greasy chips, you'd think for what they charge they could at least give you a good chip,and if you add a case hardened fish to them you'll need a bank loan ..

They would have been stoned when I was a lad for dishing up the rubbish you get today and daring to charge a fortune for it.

But that's not all, oh no not by a long shot because what really gets up my nose is the best chip shop I know is run by a Greek fellow and the only way I can get edible chips is to go to a Chinese take away !!!!!

What's happened to the good old British pride and skill with the fryers....

[darylslinn 10]

Fish and chips got lost when kebabs and burgers joined the menu i'm afraid.

[johnpm 18]

WE were on holiday last month at Goodrington,Paignton & had the best chips & fish we have had for many years - if you are down there try the "Frying Scotsman" at Goodrington shops.

[schoolrdgal 10]

There was a time back in the past when Fish Chips and peas was our staple diet, our favorite nosh, but now it cost an arm and a leg and usually looks and tastes like warmed up left overs from the night before ....

You couldn't beat walking down the street eating a bag full of red hot chips back then, but now !!!!

We went to Bakewell the other day and it cost us £16 for fish and chips twice and chips and fish cake twice and the stuff looked and tasted so bad none of us could Finnish it

I can go to Chesterfield market and get 10 pound of new potatoes for one pound fifty and yet it cost nearly as much for a small bag of horrible looking cardboard tasting warmed up greasy chips, you'd think for what they charge they could at least give you a good chip,and if you add a case hardened fish to them you'll need a bank loan ..

They would have been stoned when I was a lad for dishing up the rubbish you get today and daring to charge a fortune for it.

But that's not all, oh no not by a long shot because what really gets up my nose is the best chip shop I know is run by a Greek fellow and the only way I can get edible chips is to go to a Chinese take away !!!!!

What's happened to the good old British pride and skill with the fryers....

 

Don't bother with the shops anymore, when I fancy fish and chips M&S. Do a lovely chunky cod and fresh chips . You may say they are expensive, but they are certainly cheaper than the chippies.

[susie1 10]

When I was growing up in the 50s, fish and chips was a treat; definitely not our staple diet.

Sometimes/rarely midweek someone might fancy some chips (with scraps, no fish though, too expensive), but fish and chips were a treat for (usually) Saturday nights and the fish were often shared. Pies, curry sauce etc came much later.

Edited July 10, 2015 by susie1

[andrejuan 10]

They were just as expensive back in the day, probably more so when you take into account the tiny portions back then.

Not that I agree with the shovel load you get these days, far too much.

 

We have F+C once a week at work, the general opinion is that Admiral are the best all round.

[Jim Hardie 527]

They were just as expensive back in the day, probably more so when you take into account the tiny portions back then.

 

I'm not sure that's true. I can remember being sent for fish and chips in the mid 50s and the cost was 3d for chips and 7d for the fish.

In comparison I think a loaf of bread was 10d and I remember asking my dad how much a pint was and he told me 1/6d

[Vini 10]

There's definitely an art form to good F&C, and not every shop makes the grade! But if you 'find' that place, then I'm not sure there is a finer meal! (Big up Shaws @ Killamarsh!)

 

As for cost, in terms of 'not home cooked food', it amazes me that you can feed 2 people for under a tenner and have change. Goto McDonalds or KFC now and feeding 2 folks is almost £15. To me, F&C is the cheapest and best form of fast food. If it was a little healthier, I'd be eating F&C 7 days a week.

[jaffa1 10]

Fish and chips got lost when kebabs and burgers joined the menu i'm afraid.

 

I agree with this, if you want proper fish and chips go to an English one that sells nothing but F+C except for the odd sausage.

It's the same the other way round, an Englishman cannot make a Chinese meal or an Indian meal in the same way that they can.

[hobinfoot 25]

The fish & chips taste different today because they are fried in oil rather than dripping or lard. When I was a kid in the 60s my mum once sent me for 3 fish 2 cakes 5 lots of chips & pease she gave me a ten shilling note and I came back with change. Our favourite chippy was Torry's( think that's how you spell it) on Grimsthorpe Rd Pitsmoor.

[echo beach 587]

Fish and chips got lost when kebabs and burgers joined the menu i'm afraid.

 

Yes Daryl, there's a lot of truth in that. When travelling abroad became much more affordable with cheap package holidays from the '60s onwards our taste for foreign food became much wider. Hence the rise in European and Asian restaurants and takeaways which competed for custom with the traditional fish and chip shops.

hobinfoot is spot on when he says they taste much different nowadays fried in oil as opposed dripping or lard. Fried in the latter they tasted much more delicious, although supposedly less healthy.

I think comparatively they are more expensive nowadays ,certainly than in the '50s, and part of the reason could be that fish were more plentiful then and were caught by our own vast fleets of trawlers. That was a time pre EU and fish quotas.

 

echo.

[andrejuan 10]

I'm not sure that's true. I can remember being sent for fish and chips in the mid 50s and the cost was 3d for chips and 7d for the fish.

In comparison I think a loaf of bread was 10d and I remember asking my dad how much a pint was and he told me 1/6d

 

Maybe it was the differential in general food/take away??

 

1957 Average weekly wage £10

Work time to pay for a weekly basket of basic food items such as milk, butter and bread 3 hours

 

 

2007 average weekly wage£430

Work time to pay for a weekly basket of basic food items such as milk, butter and bread 40 minutes