What Fish & Chip Shops Were Like in 1970s Britain

You smelled it before you saw the shop. Hot fat, salt and vinegar, drifting down the street on a cold Friday night in 1970s Britain. This is a walk back through chippy night, minute by minute: the queue out of the door, the steamed-up windows, the pickled eggs on the counter, the family behind the range who knew your order before you said it, and the parcel of chips wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper, warm against your chest on the walk home. We’ll also go back to where it all began, from the first chip shops of the 1860s and Harry Ramsden’s wooden hut in Guiseley to the Cod Wars of the 1970s, and see why fish and chips was one of the few foods never rationed in the war. Cod or haddock? Scraps, bits or scrumps? Salt and vinegar, or salt and sauce? Tell us in the comments what you ordered, what your family called the scraps, and the name of your old chippy. And send this to someone who stood in the same queue. Subscribe to Lost British Shops for more stories of the shops that made the British high street. #FishAndChips #BritishNostalgia #1970sBritain Tags (comma-separated, under 500 characters):