When it comes to the classics of British cuisine, fish and chips comes top of the menu.
Along with the Sunday dinner, bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, and the mighty Full English, a heaping portion of thick-cut chips and battered fish, doused in vinegar and wrapped in a paper cocoon, take pride of place on Britain's dining table. Every June 3, the nation pays tribute to the old favourite traditionally associated with rowdy seagulls and trips to the beach.
In the spirit of National Fish and Chip Day, I paid a visit to Yanni's Traditional Fish and Chips on Lord Street in Liverpool city centre to catch a glimpse of life behind the chippy counter.
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Sandra Lawton, who founded the restaurant eight years ago with chef husband Yanni, said: "We come in at 9.30am and prepare the curry, gravy, salad. We have a potato lad in the morning who comes in, does all the prep. Then the fish will come in, and we get that fresh every day from Scotland. Cod and haddock - mainly haddock. Most people prefer haddock now."
Doors open at 11am, and business starts with a steady trickle of regulars: the woman who comes in every morning for a small fish and chips "with a knife and fork and a little salt"; the man who orders nothing but a large tray of plain white rice; the 91-year-old former army colonel, called Albert, who is given a deep-fried sausage on the house. By noon the lunchtime rush is underway, and workmen in helmets and high-vis jackets and women in suits and lanyards form a fast-moving queue.
Chef Yanni takes sole responsibility for preparing the battered fish, steak puddings, pies, sausages, burgers and fishcakes, while Sandra and staff member Pauline Lord take orders and serve meals in paper packages or trays. Chips bubbling in the fryer turn golden and rise to the surface when done, and the best ones are scooped into a "chip box" ready to be served, while the rock-hard shards are removed and discarded before any unsuspecting customer has the chance to crack a filling.
Yanni, who has worked in fish and chip shops for 21 years, said: "I don't like to just take the money and say 'see you later'. I treat them like family, like a guest in my house, because I want them to come back. They really keep me going.
"20 years ago when I started, everywhere was very busy. Now there's so many shops, for example Dominos, Papa John's, Burger King - more competition. I'm in the middle of the city centre, I could go to Burger King, Dominos, Subway, Greggs, Pound Bakery, and you need to be better than them for people to walk past them and to you. The standard is higher now."
Fish and chips have long been a staple of the British working class, first gaining popularity in the 1860s in Oldham. During World War II, fish and chips were one of the few foods in the UK that weren’t rationed by the government, as it was believed restricting these comforts would strike a devastating blow to public morale.
The number of local chippies in the UK reached its peak in 1927, with more than 35,000 shops nationwide. Today, these numbers have fallen to around 10,500 - but the tradition of a Friday fish supper remains alive and well.
A recent study by Buzz Bingo found Liverpool was the only major UK city to rank curry sauce as its favourite chippy sauce - a finding supported by the number of Yanni's customers ordering their meals drenched in the stuff, forgoing the usual gravy, mushy peas and ever-popular tomato ketchup.
Sandra said: "On different days we get different people, the old couples who come in at the same time every week. A lot of them have been coming in for years, they're part of the family. They come in for a natter, sometimes just to get out of the house.
"You get office staff, workmen, even ladies meet up here with their friends. It's a good mixture of people. We get a lot of tourists, cruise ships coming in from everywhere. Americans, Chinese, Norwegians, Swedish - everywhere."
Yanni added: "People think in England you can eat fish and chips three times a day. It's a very popular food."
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