The long read: Plenty of people will tell you the East Neuk of Fife in Scotland is the best place in the world to eat fish and chips. So what happens when its chippies – and chippies across the UK – start to close?
It’s impossible to not at least allude to the fact it exists in this context really. It’s either that or say ‘there seems to be no reason why chippies are closing’ which is clearly untrue.
It’d be interesting to see the number of other fast food closures.
Purely anecdotal, but no chippies have closed in my town but numerous pizza and kebab places have opened, plus chains like pizza express and wagamamas.
I think it’s more complex for chippies. Fish and chips was meant to be a cheap treat, that’s why it has such a strong working class heritage behind it. So the price rise makes it untenable in a way that may not affect other takeaways. Like, if I’m going to pay £20 for some fish and chips, I might as well have a Chinese. It’s a cultural thing.
It’s impossible to not at least allude to the fact it exists in this context really. It’s either that or say ‘there seems to be no reason why chippies are closing’ which is clearly untrue.
It’d be interesting to see the number of other fast food closures.
Purely anecdotal, but no chippies have closed in my town but numerous pizza and kebab places have opened, plus chains like pizza express and wagamamas.
I wonder if it’s just dietary changes?
I think it’s more complex for chippies. Fish and chips was meant to be a cheap treat, that’s why it has such a strong working class heritage behind it. So the price rise makes it untenable in a way that may not affect other takeaways. Like, if I’m going to pay £20 for some fish and chips, I might as well have a Chinese. It’s a cultural thing.
That’s from a time of plenty, overfishing has decimated fish stocks and trawling is destroying the sea bed.
I’m not going to mourn the loss of that ‘industry’, we can make sustainable protein, and high prices help to attract investment