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fish and chip shops

It seems Brum had fish and chips shops earlier than thought

Is it Cod the fish they use in England ? Think in Scotland they often use the whiting
 
George Formby had a fish & chip shop in Upper Sutton St, Mrs Jackson was in Cliffton Rd. Cannot remember the name of the one by the snooker hall in Park Lane?
I recall going to a bonefire party at the Formbys & it being all over in about 10Min's when a rocket dived in to the tea chest full of firerworks, seeing the Lady of the house running in to the kitchen chased by a jumping jack was great fun for us kids. those were the days when banger were banger.
 
My post above seems to have grown but the addition is good stuff. It seems to me that cod and hake were used. Haddock seems to be popular now in Canada. Maybe now it's a case of what you can get, if anything. It seems impossible to arrive at a sustainable catch.
Oh and roe.
 
Never thought about the fish trade in Brum. I see in 1839 there were 14 fishmongers listed in Robson's directory. I would guess they would mainly have been locally caught fresh fish, as the first two railway lines to the town had only been running a month or two, it would not be very practical to transport wet fish by horse-drawn wagon or canal.
Peter
 
My g.grandma Mary Ann Yates had a fish & chip shop at 26 Newtown Row in 1881, and her father Richard Birch was a fishmonger at 65 Gt. Hampton Street in 1881. A number of my g. aunts and g.g. aunts also had fish shops (1) 13 Constitution Hill 1881, (2) 51 Stafford Street 1881, (3) 127 Summer Lane 1891, (4) 29 Wheeler Street 1891.
 
round hake was the most popular fish with a big bone in the middle that's when a piece of fish was fish
 
I think it must have been Hake I had when I lived over there - because I don't particularly like cod. In Canada it is either haddock or halibut - I take the halibut any time
 
My mouth is watering, aah! fish & chips, take a deep breath and l could swear l can smell 'em, l don't think a real fish&chip shop is to be found this far south, but every so often l'll do them myself, can'nt get any cold water fish here in Texas,so l fry either Catfish or Redfish,nothing like Cod or Halibut though,of course mushypeas and bread and butter to complete the dish. Went to Lake Tahoe some time ago,thought l'd struck gold as Halibut was on the menu fresh from the ocean Pacific that is, so had it for breakfast could'nt wait untill lunch and it was delicious,........our fish&chip shop was Jones's in Park Lane we usually had to queue up on a Friday night,l remember Mrs Jones had beautiful white hair pulled back in a bun and Mr Jones was tall and wore glasses..aah happy days, do you think that was the start of fast food??? Brenda
 
No Brenda I think it was the start of real food. Alf Tupper in the Hotspur or Wizard or whatever always used to run his long distance races on a meal of fish and chips. Must be something in it. The sad fact is that this meal will soon be memory only since there seems to be no way to manage the fisheries.
 
The "Victor" I think Rupert.........fancy carrying round memories of Alf Tupper and his 'fish and chips' for all those years..........I bet you didn't remember algebra or triginometry as good ;D
 
We used to have Hake every Friday when we lived in Brum Mom used to do it every Friday we can't get it anywhere around here :(
 
Well Frantic your Hypotenuse on my memory is quite wrong. I can still square a triangle with the best of them. Hows your stamping operation going anyway. You might be able to charm my wife with a Rupi and a Jappi on a trinket.
 
That's a great story Gillian. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to make sure
this historical building was worth saving and not only that to use it as it was originally intended. The tiles look really worth saving and will no doubt be a talking point. I hope the fish and chips themselves will be a talking point too, being delicious. I bet the shop will be very very popular when the rebuild is finished and it opens up for business.
 
When visiting the library and checking the Kellys (I know I keep harping on) I found the Underhills in Grange Road off the Coventry Road. They didn't refer to the business/trade as Fish and chips but as fried fish dlr ...deliverers?
 
my Uncle Alf Simcox was a fried fish shop dealer, he supplied the oil and fish, the potatoes came from another dealer, the shop they owned in Handsworth was called a wet fish shop, their fish was bought fresh every day from Birmingham fish market which meant him arriving at the market in the early hours of the morning and then delivering to is customers each and every day all over Birmingham.
originally they were called eating houses or oyster shell fish bars before coming fried fish shops or in somes cases cafes
 
HI John
If I Remember Rightly Did,nt The Fish From The Market
Came To The Chippie,s In Little Wooden Boxes
And I Think It Was Weighed Into A Stone Weight ,s
And I Think It Was About Four Shilling And Sixpence
A BoX, And As The YearS Progressed They Put It Into
Plastic Trays ,
 
Hi Slyvia
You replied to my E-Mail some time ago to say that your relations lived 2 doors from my granparents Thomas and Mary Elizabeth Birch,123 Summer Lane and they were Fish saloon keepers. Does that mean Fish and Chip shop? I also wondered when Fish and Chip shops began.
 
Hi Slyvia
You replied to my E-Mail some time ago to say that your relations lived 2 doors from my granparents Thomas and Mary Elizabeth Birch,123 Summer Lane and they were Fish saloon keepers. Does that mean Fish and Chip shop? I also wondered when Fish and Chip shops began.

First recorded Fish & Chip Shop London 1860 by Joseph Malin

Ist outside 1863 Mossley Lancs by Mr Lee:)
 
I think Astonian is right about the fish being delivered in 14-lb boxes. I used to drink with who had two trucks bringing fish down from Scotland to London every day, and he could get a box of anything to order, at a nice wholesale price.
That was some time ago, and the last of our wet fish stalls in the Croydon market went two or three years ago.
Progress doesn't always go forwards!
Peter
 
Fish & Chip Shops

Hi Grace, it was my great great aunt Hannah Birch who had a fish & chip shop at 127 Summer Lane as of the 1891 census, also living there were Hannah Yates (my gran's sister) and Richard Birch my g.g. uncle and his wife Catherine. It states they were fish dealers but I understand a number of rellies had fish & chip shops in the area.
 
Bedders is still in business but the Bedder family are not involved, they sold the business and it now has new owners, i don`t know what the fish & chip quality is like now. Len.
 
Len,

Bedders must have sold them the recipe for the batter, because the fish and chips taste just the same, as good as they always were. It even still looks the same, with the photos of the Bedders family on the walls, and same menu.

Ann
 
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