Fish&Chip shop scratchings

[Astonian]

HI LLOYED
How are you keeping fine i hope;? .
i must admit lloyed i pass that shop many times and i have never used it so i cannot comment on that one but yes if he use,s
the old beef dripping its a bonus plus have the old nack of correctly timeing and letting his spuds soak long enough in
the bath which they all use in there outer housing before fetching them out in there buckets as well to take out most of the starch in the spuds
and the other thing thats goes along way with the customers is not to let any eyes left in the spud before frying its well presented
then they will be nice dry and crisped there is a guy around the corner from that shop called the silver cod i think it was called he his still there
the guy is of a foreign origin ; cannot recall his name at the moment but he his an accountant and as his son now running the shop he as been there four about four years ago and thats when i first met him about four years ago he was adervising for a back room peeler part time and a server
on the front counter so i applied for the job; and got it and worked in there for him and when is son became of age i left he wanted me to stay on but i declined as he wanted me to decorate the shop for him at a cheap price but i said no and that was it ;
he knew his stuff he spot checked all is pototoes and not would have had a eye in it and they was bang on chips as they should be
alot of the chippies around worcestershire and the black country was supplied with already chipped cleaned chipps and bagged up frozen
by a guy called phil taylor of mucknell farm in pershore the fam goes back to the seventeen hundreds and 1800s it was his fathers farm
which stretch across pershore and he employed about 12 guys including myself as the lorry delivers to peel tons of spuds throughthe wash machine wich was huge and chipped then by the thousand and i had to deliver most of them around the black country and across worcester ;
to all these fish and chip shops so i got to know the many of these fryers and do you know you could count them on one hand whom ever used the beef dripping it was always oil drums which was useless no comprisment to the beef dripping as you say ;
the jelfs chippie on the aston cross and spring hil used to used the beef dripping at there out lets ;
so i know a fair bit about the trade of chippers and you are quite correct in what you have said ;
well lloyed have a good day best wishes astonian

 

[paul stacey]

Hi Astonian, do you remember the name of the fish and chip shop on the bristol road same side as the oak cinema, but about 5/6 shops down towards northfield direction, I think they were cypriots and I think the main man was tony.
regards paul

 

[Astonian]

HI PAUL
Yes i remember tony very well and his family tony left and moved to upper thomas street aston for a period andlater moved to waterloo rd smethwick and boght a coffee shop along with a ice cream van he later turn the coffee shop in waterloo rd into a greek cypriot organisation
offices and commutity walfare centre ; at the moment i just cannot think of the chippie name shop but i remember tony very well from when he done some shifts later on at the old blue bird toffee factory
also i know big john and the family and steve at the frying pan on the corner of barford rd and dudley rd they started off at northbrook street down by the hospital of dudley rd where i think from memory was the old 96 bus terminus from city centre through hockley and hingeston st and up to northbrook street terminus way back in time when the clearance came they bought the shop on pershore rd by the bbc andlater sold it to another guy called shoggie whom bought alibabas on coventry rd by the blues ground and still kept the pershore rd one as well he later moved back to the suze
cannal side of the world the chinese now own the one on the pershore by the bbc big john does not work any moreits down to steve and the cousins whom are running the frying pan on dudley rd as i said they startedthere on the cornerof north brook st and years later moved back to my old
haurting grounds dudley rd incidently some asked about a butcher shop the other day on the forum well that was across the rd by the lea taveren years ago right next to it and green the deco shop was next door to it as well i was up there the other week and i was appalled to see how the council have let it slip into a bad area of estate
but yes paul i did know tony for many , many years he was a great guy he was such a great friend to our family as well i have had often thought what ever happened to him ; paul have a nice day best wishes alan astonian

 

[caggyken]

Hi all
this brings back many happy memories.i was lucky to live next door to claytons fish shop in formans rd sparkhill during the war.mom used to help out
chipping the spuds on the hand chipper.but the to things that stick in my mind are,the fact that our front room never needed to have any heat on as the cooking
range backed on to our front room wall.also my dad worked nights at the rover during the war.once a week his treat was fish and chips before
setting of to work.mom would send me to get them,buti was told to wait untill the shop was empty as mrs clayton had a piece of hake under the counter
for him.i do believe that it was either in short supply or rationed.happy days

 

[paul stacey]

I bow to your supierior knowledge, thanks for that astonian the reason I asked was that as a lad of 14yr's I worked there for six months on a saturdays and sundays, tony had 2 bueatiful girls I cannot remember their names now, and a huge white albino alsation dog, that dog loved me so much it followed me all the way back to weoley castle one day, and my dad made me take all the way back, the bus wouldn't let me on so I had to walk. couldn't do it now great memories. many thanks alan .regards paul.

 

[Astonian]

hi caggyken
i liked your story of yesterdays ; naughty but nice ; one lways loked after good neibours an friends in thou,s days
what say today is ; if you are lucky enough to have a good frend and a neibour today ;
they re worth there wait in gold ; i say today human race ;
and the story of the best peice of hake story reminds me of the day when aunti ellen used to run the chip shop on spring hill
faceing the libary ; and along side bulpitts on camden st i was there
a man whom worked at bulpitts as a foreman in his lunch break came in and asked for the hake ;
he took it back to work with him and at five oclock clocking out time he came back into the shop on his way home with the fish eaton and just left the skeleton of the hake and said that fish was horrible and i would like a refund back please
well she seen red ; as the old saying goes and chased him out of the shop and do not come back because you will not be served ; we laughed about
it later that evening but if you do not know that when you work in a chippie when you go home your coat or clothes what ever are hanging about smell of fish and chips and ruin your clothes thanks caggy for the smile ; best wishes astonian

 

[Wobag]

'Scratchings' are still sold in several chip shops round the Scott Arms areas, though they are generally referred to as 'batters', and are scattered over a serving of chips rather than sold separately.

Fish and Chips however, are really made a meal by the addition of a scallop...

 

[keegs]

When we lived in Tilton Road,Small Heath,Rileys chippy in Garrison Lane was our local.Great fish n chips and free "scratchings".I was at school with Philip,the son of the owners.They emigrated to Austrailia eventually.

 

[dereklcg]

Best chippies and scratchings for me and i,m sure others remember it.
was i think oliver st on the corner grt lister st,they were special.
a lot of places now don,t give you salt and viniger unless you ask..
Happy days in birmingham 7.. dereklcg

 

[Astonian]

hi wobag ;
if you get them from your local chippie [ scratching ] they are breaking the law beleive it or not ;
yes everybody loves the scratchinng even myself ; but under the health and safety rules from many years ago it was banned under the health and safety regulations
way ; way back ; as i recall they was forbidden to give you them even if you was to pay for them ;
if there was a officier of the health and safety team in the que behjind you ; he would pull the owner for it ;
there aint many chippies whom will risk the risk for prosecution ; for scratching ; to the public
my grand father used to run a couple of chipies years ago and they bought there fish in wooden boxes for one shilling and six pence a stone
i knew mr beddows used to give you some if requested he swapped his scratching for a spoon of chopped onions on your chips free if you wanted
but sadly they havee long gone , but dads lane chippie dog pool lane stirchley as taken over where beddows left off
just like old beddows you can eat in but like beddows you have to line up out sidefrom noon to dust
have a nice day best wishes astonian ;;

 

[Wobag]

Interesting, Astonian.

Im speculating here, but Im guessing whats illegal is the bits of batter being from the fish or the fish frier. I can certainly see how little bits of old fish floating in oil might not be the safest thing to eat. I believe what chip shops do now is drizzle batter mix into the chip frier, then fish them out. If this is vegetable fat, and usually is these days ( no more chips in beef dripping heh), I think thats probably legal. Legal and tasty!

 

[Glennys Jean]

Up in my North East, we always asked for scraps with our fish & chips. And a bottle of Dandelion & Burdocks. Yum!

 

[Astonian]

HI GUYS ;
I WENT TO GREAT BARR YESTERDAY AFTERNOON ON BUSSINES ;AND ON MY WAY HOME I DIVERTED ACROSS FROM HAMSTEAD THROUGH HANDSWORTH
AND WINSON GREEN ;I HAD MY OLDEST SON WITH ME AS A PASSENGER IN THE CAR
WHEN I GOT TO HANDSWORTH COMING THROUGH GROVE LANE ;I WAS APPALLED TO SEE THE DETERIATION OF THE RDSW AND THE PROPERTYS
IT CERTAINLY WAS RUN DOWN BY A MILE ; AND I STARTED TO TELL HIM ABOUT MY YOUNGER DAYS BEFORE I WAS MARIED AND HOW I WORKED FOR MIDLANDS COUNTIES DAIRYIES AND BEING A MILK MAN DELIVERING ALL OVER THE HANDSWORTH DISTRICT TO SHOPS AND HOUSES ;
AND POINTING OUT VARIUOS PROPERTYS ; BUT BY GOLLY HPOW ITS CHANGED ;
I CANME UP WINSON GREEN RD THROUGH TO ICKNEILD PORT RD ; AND I SEEN THE OLD BRICK LAYERS ARMS IS STILL IN BUSSNESS BUT THE BELLE VIEW AS LONG GONE And boared it up and how the areas of brum are being disbanded and people and family dispearsed my memorys was flowing fast and thick about my years of the areas and the some big familys that i knew and wondered where have they all gone to
any way as i have said before about dads lane chippy ; and ajoining resturant to eat in ; where its always a full shop from dawn to dusk ; and as i have said before
he as taken over where beddows droped off ; for there named for chippys reputation ; they que from eleven in the morning to get in the chippy and earery ;
if you have not been there before now may i suggest if in the area go and try them ;
dad and his wife are tremoundously welcoming family ; and you would not be disopointed beleive me ;
on the subject of the chippys those whom know of the frying pan ;chippy or may not know that this chippy the frying pan is up for sale ;
and as i have said to dads last night its because its the dying area of familysbeing disperesed so the local trade is dying ; incidently ;
dads god daughter is married to steve on of the frying pans family ; whom i also know personaly from father to son
they are like a bit of history to the area just like beddows was to cov ;rd hay mills; the frying pan ;was years ago started in northbrook street at the corner of dudley rd
it was only a litle small shop ; right out side the 95 bus terminus way back in the late fifties
then they moved to pershore rd by the bbc ; and years a two later moved back to dudley rd and have been there ever since ;
and as i said the shops on dudley rd are going slowly one by one and sadley the frying pan is in line next i do not know of any near chippies by dudley rd or winson green ;
just like the pubs is going rapid my be there will be a motorway coming up through there soon er or later one never nows what these planner have up there sleeves
i have to say lastly i was impressed by the new police station they biult on ickneld port rd
best wishes astonian ;;;

 

[keegs]

Another great chip shop for good chips and plenty of free scratching,was opposite Stetchford Swimming Baths.Many a nights routine was,off the number 11 bus,into the chip shop,chicken and mushroom pie & chips,then a walk up Yardley Fields road towards home.Happy Days.
Keegs