Denis Kilcommons: 150 years of fish and chips

Jan 12 2010 by Chris Mellor, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

FISH and chips this year celebrate their 150th anniversary.

The actual date (and year) is in dispute, but who cares?

It’s an excuse to indulge in Britain's favourite take away that started as street food in the Dickensian era and continues to be a staple diet of the British working class.

It was one of the few foods not rationed during the Second World War.

We have 10,500 fish and chip shops and the industry is worth £1.2bn a year.

Some 229 million portions of fish and 227 million portions of chips are sold every year, so there is not just me eating them, then.

Right, that's enough of facts and figures. I'm off to the chippy.