Those were the days The glory of fish and chips

SO, that’s then: after tonight, there’s no more dining out in central Scotland for the next two weeks at least.

Ah well, never mind, we still have takeaways. And in Scotland, the king of the takeaways is, for many of us, fish and chips. More prosaically, the fish supper. Just look at the gusto with which the unidentified young lad above is tucking into his portion, most likely for his school dinner. Hungry yet?

The fish supper was introduced to the UK in the mid 19th century – some say that the first fish and chip shop was opened by a Jewish immigrant, Joseph Malin, in East London around 1860. Dundee claims bragging rights over the first fish and chips in Scotland, supposedly sold by a Belgian immigrant in the1870s, though it is unclear whether he was a salt ‘n’ vinegar or salt ‘n’ sauce man. Whatever, the dish took hold the length and breadth of the land, with Glaswegians amongst its keenest advocates.

So much so, that on May 17,

1992, as our main picture shows, the city made its bid to become a fish supper world record holder, with Harry Ramsden’s in Kinning Park determined to gain the Guinness Book of Records crown for the largest number of servings in a day. People queued outside the shop for hours for their portions, sold at a nominal 10p in aid of the ITV Telethon. This newspaper reported: “Forget garden festivals and years of culture, the city confirmed itself as the fish supper capital of the world yesterday ... the five-star chippy had brought in 2,750 pounds of fresh haddock, 11 tons of potatoes, 900 pounds of fat and 528 pounds of a batter mix for an assault on the record of 10,183 servings in one day.

“And last night, the message came though from a tired management: “We’ve broken the record and we’re still selling.”

Sadly, social distancing regulations mean there can be no further attempts for a while.