The price of Fish and Chips

[David Marks 2Participant @davidmarks2]

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Yeah, but if you want really good fish and chips you have to go to Whitby!

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Posted by Richard Simpson on 30/09/2022 19:36:49:

Yeah, but if you want really good fish and chips you have to go to Whitby!

yep, had them there when i was photographing the Mary Ann Hepworth, to start designing my fist kit, the Ann Letitia Russell lifeboat………they were indeed beautiful, succulent and very fresh fish.

[Stephen GarradParticipant @stephengarrad28964]

Posted by neil howard-pritchard on 30/09/2022 20:25:21:

Posted by Richard Simpson on 30/09/2022 19:36:49:

Yeah, but if you want really good fish and chips you have to go to Whitby!

yep, had them there when i was photographing the Mary Ann Hepworth, to start designing my fist kit, the Ann Letitia Russell lifeboat………they were indeed beautiful, succulent and very fresh fish.

You mention Mary Ann Hepworth Neil, she sold on Ebay a couple of weeks ago for £5000.

Stephen

PS Whitby fish & chips are pretty good I agree, never tried Fleetwoods.

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

Posted by neil howard-pritchard on 30/09/2022 16:48:18:

Posted by Chris E on 29/09/2022 14:35:38:

I am not interested in Fish & Chips in Fleetwood.

Perhaps your fore fathers, mothers and relatives were though, during WW1 and WW2, for Fleetwood was kept open as the only fishing port far away enough from Axis bombers to allow the fleet to carry on fishing in deep waters to feed the starving nation with fish.

FLEETWOOD trawlers went to sea unarmed and unprotected from German U Boats, whilst trawlers from Milford Haven, Scotland and all other ports around the British Isles were armed and sent out as sub chasers, armed escorts for convoys and home front protection.

You might like to get hold of a book called "The real price of fish" and read it!

And as Fleetwood trawlers were unarmed, they were prime targets for submarines, and many were lost with all hands.

Brave men, brought fish to the starving of this nation without fear or favour, and deserve a little more respect than you or Mr Marks have given with your flippant comments.

You can insult me all you wish with such comments about the town I was born in, brought up in, worked within the fishing industry for a time, as I have had many thown at me, but NEVER insult the town that gave so much for this Nation in lives, during those two world wars, and which I am immensely proud of and to be called a "codhead".

A NATIVE OF FLEETWOOD !!!

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 30/09/2022 16:50:39

I have enormous respect for the contribution in all wars of the whole merchant marine.

I am still not interested in how good (or bad) the fish & chips are in Fleetwood in the 2020's.

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Chris, there is no compulsion to read everything that is posted.  There will always be those who have no interest in the postings we all make, including you and me, but we simply move on without feeling the need to comment. 

It seems we have wandered a long way from David's Wilko paint topic with this one, which was actually useful information so deserves to be noted,

 

 

 

Edited By Richard Simpson on 01/10/2022 09:17:57

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Posted by Stephen Garrad on 30/09/2022 21:31:26:

Posted by neil howard-pritchard on 30/09/2022 20:25:21:

Posted by Richard Simpson on 30/09/2022 19:36:49:

Yeah, but if you want really good fish and chips you have to go to Whitby!

yep, had them there when i was photographing the Mary Ann Hepworth, to start designing my fist kit, the Ann Letitia Russell lifeboat………they were indeed beautiful, succulent and very fresh fish.

You mention Mary Ann Hepworth Neil, she sold on Ebay a couple of weeks ago for £5000.

Stephen

PS Whitby fish & chips are pretty good I agree, never tried Fleetwoods.

i know, Stephen……….i just wish i'd had the money…….

[John W EParticipant @johnwe]

Posted by Richard Simpson on 30/09/2022 19:36:49:

Yeah, but if you want really good fish and chips you have to go to Whitby!

Richard Simpson may you be bound to the mast and flogged for your comment – yee of all people who have been to sacred land of South Shields Ocean Road – where the greatest of all fish n chip shops Colmans reside they have won many an award mind it might have been for sand castles.

Mind the Whitby fish n chips arent bad at all. A bit overcooked at times and I must confess I have never tried Fleetwood fish n chips.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I get nice fish and chips from the “Molesey fish bar”. Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

There is a place in Littlehampton, Sussex which does top class fish & chips. Mrs B and I go down there for lunch.

Colin

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Let's face it, there's cracking fish and chip shops all over the country, though I agree that if they are in sight of the sea it does add to the experience.

We have a really good one in Warwick and you can't get any further from the sea!

Chris

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Posted by John W E on 01/10/2022 16:14:08:

Posted by Richard Simpson on 30/09/2022 19:36:49:

Yeah, but if you want really good fish and chips you have to go to Whitby!

Richard Simpson may you be bound to the mast and flogged for your comment – yee of all people who have been to sacred land of South Shields Ocean Road – where the greatest of all fish n chip shops Colmans reside they have won many an award mind it might have been for sand castles.

Mind the Whitby fish n chips arent bad at all. A bit overcooked at times and I must confess I have never tried Fleetwood fish n chips.

I have to confess John, that the only time I have partaken in the delights of the eateries in South Shields was after a good skin full and then it was always one of the wonderful curry houses down Ocean Road. In the days of good nights out when you could get a cab back to the ship in Wallsend Dry Dock and still be up for work bushy tailed the next day!

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

ahhh guys……………but the make or break is the simple and basic question.

skin on, or skin off

i once took my kids to a caravan park in Scarborough in my tourer with wife for a weeks holiday..

went to the local chippy and saw, cod skinless, haddock and hake, skin on.

So asked the frier could you please skin the Hake……………no!!

could you skin the haddock then please……no!!!!…….if you don't like cod, have a pudding

No thanks, i'll go somewhere else!

please yersell!!!

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Skin off for me! Don't mind either Cod or Haddock though. The batter is a key element must be crisp and not soggy. Everyone has their own preference for chips.

Colin

[Andy Stone 1Participant @andystone1]

Aw- your a peacemaker Ashley, Try Cromer seafront restaurant, best I've tasted

Andy

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

Posted by Andy Stone 1 on 01/10/2022 23:59:57:

Aw- your a peacemaker Ashley, Try Cromer seafront restaurant, best I've tasted

Andy

I'LL try there next time I'm down in Cromer.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I am of the controversial opinion that the goodness of the f&ch is not simply having nice fish, but depends on how they are cooked on the day by the staff.

These staff persons my not be fish ‘chefs but simply minimum wave wallahs running through the motions as instructed.

I have been to several named fish and chip shops, and whereas the product was acceptable, it was not outstanding in any way. Seeing hoards of people queuing up outside Gordon Ramsey’s f&ch bar at Whitby (or who/wherever don’t quote me..it’s the other geezer isn’t it?) you wonder how much individual attention is being paid when the serving staff are clamouring for more fish?

Just secure my plaice (!) at the top of the witches pole, Weatherspoons does cracking f&ch. Batter fab crunchy, fish not oily, chips nice. The thing is..it’s the same every time I go in there…super consistent.

Ashley (beer batter to be deep fried please)

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

…Harry Ramsden…that’s the geezer… A

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi All,

The F&C shop next to the roundabout at Rye, East Sussex, where all the A259 bikers congregate is pretty good

Regards Ray

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

When I was a kid Harry Ramsdens in Shipley was a 'proper' fish and chip restaurant. Silver service, chandeliers, waitresses in black and white, proper silver cutlery and tea in proper china. Menus in silver holders on the table with only different types of fish available. Beautiful place, beautiful atmosphere, stunning food. Every bank holiday there was a huge queue down the road waiting for tables, usually in the region of an hour long. People were happy to wait though because it was worth it.

Then a friend came to stay with us with his girlfriend when I was living in Halifax and we decided to treat them to a Harry Ramsdens. We turned up and walked straight in. The place had been gutted and turned into a 'fast food' franchise. Bright gaudy colours, menu plastered across across the wall selling pies, nuggets and all sorts of other garbage from a McDonalds type queue system. Collected the food in polystyrene trays and sat down at a formica table. The food was tasteless, bland, not hot and soggy. I really could have cried. Then, when I worked for Disney I visited Epcot and went along to the 'British' area. They had a Harry Ramsdens take away window next to the Red Lion pub. We tried it. Exactly the same tasteless plastic junk food as sold in all their outlets now. What is it that seems to attract people to American style junk food?

As for Whitby, the place to go is 'Trenchers', if they are still there. Again a 'proper' fish and chip restaurant of a superb standard and top quality food.

As for Ashley saying it is how they are cooked, again when i was young all fish and chips in Halifax were cooked in beef dripping, which had a wonderful taste all of its own. Nowadays it is all vegetable oil, which really isn't the same.

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

When I was a kid Harry Ramsdens in Shipley was a 'proper' fish and chip restaurant. Silver service, chandeliers, waitresses in black and white, proper silver cutlery and tea in proper china. Menus in silver holders on the table with only different types of fish available. Beautiful place, beautiful atmosphere, stunning food. Every bank holiday there was a huge queue down the road waiting for tables, usually in the region of an hour long. People were happy to wait though because it was worth it.

Then a friend came to stay with us with his girlfriend when I was living in Halifax and we decided to treat them to a Harry Ramsdens. We turned up and walked straight in. The place had been gutted and turned into a 'fast food' franchise. Bright gaudy colours, menu plastered across across the wall selling pies, nuggets and all sorts of other garbage from a McDonalds type queue system. Collected the food in polystyrene trays and sat down at a formica table. The food was tasteless, bland, not hot and soggy. I really could have cried. Then, when I worked for Disney I visited Epcot and went along to the 'United Kingdom' area. They had a Harry Ramsdens take away window next to the Rose and Crown pub. We tried it. Exactly the same tasteless plastic junk food as sold in all their outlets now. What is it that seems to attract people to American style junk food?

As for Whitby, the place to go is 'Trenchers', if they are still there. Again a 'proper' fish and chip restaurant of a superb standard and top quality food.

As for Ashley saying it is how they are cooked, again when i was young all fish and chips in Halifax were cooked in beef dripping, which had a wonderful taste all of its own. Nowadays it is all vegetable oil, which really isn't the same.

Edited By Richard Simpson on 02/10/2022 11:37:04

[John W EParticipant @johnwe]

slight diversion from fish and chips – how's about kippers. I love the smell of them but I just cannot get away with them – too many bones in them. What really sticks in my memory from younger days – I was at North Shields Fish Quay with the old man doing a job on a boat – and there were two old guys eating raw kippers! Cold, raw kippers! The kippers had been smoked but to eat them cold yak!

My dad sent me along the fish quay to buy half a dozen kippers, but as I say I couldnt eat them for the bones.

The same as lobster and crab but I cannot eat these nowadays – too rich for me.

Winkles and muscles in vinegar – oh no – not now!

 

Edited By John W E on 02/10/2022 17:11:15

Edited By John W E on 02/10/2022 17:12:37

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

i'll eat most fish, and kippers nicely fillited are lovely hot with a nob of butter…….

however i will not eat eals, or herring

but how many of you have ever eaten Sturgeon………..i had it whilst sailing home on a Russian cruise ship from Australia via Cape Horn…..bland and pretty tasteless………they didn't even put it in batter, it was poached in lemon juice to try giving it some flavour……….as for the fruit of its loins, Caviar………..i've had a gob full of sea water whilst swimming that tasted better

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Caviar…the food of (rich) fools.

love the taste of Kippers, can’t stand the bones so don’t eat. Smoked Haddock my go-to…poached with butter and a poached egg on top. MMMmmm

Not had eels…something I suppose I ought to try?

Dad always had a Half pint of Winkles and watched the wrestling on a Saturday whilst winkling them out with a needle.

Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Prawns are my limit but I don't mind pullingt the cooked variety to pieces…

You do have to be careful with shellfish, one bad one can lay you low.

Colin

[Author]

Posts