Mar 28 2009
Fish and Chip Association officially announce “best ever chip shop names”
Well, I’m not normally one to be digging stuff out from the back of the sofa, but going through some old posts I found a little half-completed gem that I thought deserved to be revisited and dished out (ahem) here. I present to you a post I semi-completed during national chip week (yep, such a thing exists, you know).
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Notice something different about the atmosphere of your local high street recently? A decidedly nasty aroma filling the air, floating for miles to the extent it is detectable by passing cruise liners?
Well, apparently it’s national chip week, and to mark the occasion the FCABG (Fish and Chip Association of Great Britain) have announced the most popular names for chip shops in Great Britain and Ireland. As you might expect, it’s puns ahoy as we delve into the weird world of chippy names.
The top ten
- The Codfather. A total of 3,045 chippies nationwide shared this rather witty pop culture reference, so it’s actually much less original than you think. In fact, there is a Codfather in Hindley complete with movie imagery on the shop signage.
- Load of Pollocks. Officially found to be ‘not at all profane’ to take its place in the revered top ten. Incidentally, the powers that be want us to eat less cod and more pollock.
- I Believe I Can Fry. The less said about this, the better.
- Codswallop. A chippy in Preston going by this name was recently closed down after it was found to be practicing fish abuse: as much as 25,000 cod had been battered by the establishment since its foundation in 1996. Baboom.
- For the Halibut. It seems that the most tired of old fish puns are the best, at least where chip shop naming is concerned; the worse the pun is, the more successful the business.
- The Chip Chap. The alliterative saviour, bounding along on a horse with no name to spare us from the relentless punnery.
- Top Plaice. Actually used to be my local chippy but, strangely enough, didn’t sell plaice. The most popular chippy fish are cod and haddock.
- Chippingham Palace, the Queen’s own personal chip shop in her basement. Yes, Her Majesty is impartial to a spot of cod and mushy peas. She takes her order in the Daily Mail newspaper, because “that’s all it’s any good for”.
- Frydays, where every day is a ‘fry day’.
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips. An apt name on which to finish this list, taken from the infamous lines uttered by Sean Connery in the film Codfinger.
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Acknowledgments
- Special thanks to The Lists Book by Mitchell Symons for providing some of the inspiration behind this post.
- Please note that this post should be taken with a pinch of salt. Heh.
