Interesting facts about fish and chips

Fish and chips were first served together as a dish around 1860 - although their origin is contested. In London, the Malin family claims to be first, as do the Lee family in Manchester.

British consumers eat some 382 million portions of fish and chips every year. That’s six servings for every man, woman and child.

Annual spend on fish and chips in the UK is in the region of a staggering £1.2 billion!

Family run Papa’s Fish and Chips opened the UK’s largest fish and chip shop on Cleethorpes Pier in May 2017; the restaurant and takeaway has enough room for 500 customers.

During the Second World War Winston Churchill recognised the crucial role of fish and chips, referring to them as “good companions”. Fish and chips were two of the few foods not subject to rationing because the government feared the dish was so embedded in the nation’s culture that any limit would damage morale.

Fish and chips make a balanced, nutritious meal. They are a valuable source of protein, fibre, iron and vitamins.

Fish and chips appear in Charles Dickens’ “A Tale Of Two Cities”.

Fish and chips played a part in the D-Day Landings - British soldiers identified each other by crying out ‘fish’ and waiting for the response of ‘chips’.

The word batter comes from the French word battre, which means to beat - in reference to whisking the flour and water together.

The world’s largest portion of fish and chip’s was made by Fish & Chips @ London Road in Enfield, London, on July 2012. The mammoth portion of Halibut and chips weighed in at 47kg.

There are currently approximately 10,500 specialist fish and chip shops in the UK. These dramatically outnumber other fast food outlets.

There is a long tradition of funny chip shop names – our favourites are The Cod’s Scallops and mobile fish and chip shop Star Chip Enterprise.

Fish and chips were served in newspaper until the 1980s.

The record number of fish and chip portions sold in one day is 12,406 at Marini’s in Glasgow. The record was set in 1999.

The World Record holders for the fastest portion of chips served from scratch belongs to Henley’s Fish & Chip Shop in Wivenhoe, Colchester, Essex. They took a raw potato, peeled it, chipped it, cooked to perfection and served up in an amazing 222 seconds!

The Guinness World Record for wrapping chips is held by Steph Celik of Blue Whale Fish & Chip Shop in Maltby, South Yorkshire. Beating a previous record by two seconds in 2012, speedy Steph wrapped up five 350g portions of chips, with added salt and vinegar, in just 58 seconds.