Tales From The Past

TALES FROM THE PAST Leek’s first chippy

George Orwell believed that the existence of fish and chips prevented serious disturbances and even revolution during the period of poverty and unemployment in the 1930s.

Fish and Chips was a cheap and readily available food which at least kept bellies full and minds away from radical solutions.

During the Second World War Fish and Chips remained one of the few foods not rationed so important did the government think the meal to national morale.

But when did the first chippy appear? Wikipedia thinks that the honour belongs to a restaurant in Mossley near Oldham in the 1860s although a rival claimant might be Joseph Malin a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe who opened a business in the East End selling fried fish and chipped potatoes which prior to that could only be found in Irish potato shops in the same decade.

It would seem that the quintessentially British dish might be the result of two immigrant cultures the Irish and the Jewish where the tradition of frying fish to fall in line with religious observations and consumed after synagogue service on a Saturday morning came into Britain after Cromwell lifted the ban on Jewish immigrants in the 1650s.

The first chippy in Leek certainly existed by the 1880s. A police report mentions a nasty clash between two women in 1889 where a dispute in a fish and chip restaurant spilled out into violence.

Clara Fisher of Russell Street and her neighbour Sarah Burt got involved into a fight over space on a communal washing line when Clara’s mother began to take down Sarah’s washing.

Clara hit Sarah. Sarah then came out with a large knife and struck at Clara after cutting the line down. The blow caught Clara behind the ear.

The origins of the dispute involved an argument that had developed in a line waiting for fish and chips at a shop in Leek where Sarah worked. It seemed that Sarah had not served Clara and resentment had grown after the snub.

Being a chip shop owner got a man off war service locally in 1918 where the importance of food when recognised by the clerk to the military tribunal. The chip shop owner had no male employee and was serving food to hundreds with large queues outside his shop.

It was decided that it was vital war work and the man was granted an exemption thereby avoiding some of the heaviest fighting of the war.