Fritters
Fritters and chips was what we ate as kids. Two fritters atop a bag of chips, and for 5p extra you got all the crispy bits of potato and batter found in the fryer (scraps). Oh special occasions, you might be able to afford a battered sausage (still one of the best culinary creations). Those and mushy peas. I'm not actually sure there's anything better than mushy peas.
Friday nights at my grandparents always involved actual fish and chips, there was one across the road on the 'island'* – my gran would have us take bowls and stuff to be filled. It was a thing, you'd see people wandering around the estate with kitchenware every Friday evening. They would wrap things up in paper if you didn't have the contents of your kitchen cupboard to hand.
To be honest, and risking nationalistic heresy, I find most fish and chips a bit disappointing, a pile of stodgy damp chips with a limp oil-sodden piece of fish draped on top. A combination of underheated oil and the results sitting around trying to get a tan under the heat lamps. Chips should be crispy and nothing should bleed oil when you stab it with a fork.
I can't say I eat fish and chips more than once every couple of years. There's a chippy near us that we always say we'll go to, but when we're in the mood for stodge, say returning home after a long hike and then a couple of pints, it's closed (10pm, if I recall). I suppose that's liberal compared to some opening hours. There used to be one near us in Sheffield (by Ecclesall Park) that I think closed about 7pm every evening (and didn't open weekends). I can't say I ever eat before about 9pm, and usually later.
*basically a huge roundabout with grass in the middle, it's was a 30s council estate that was actually nice, had open spaces etc. Nowadays, of course, it's a rash of poor home 'improvement' decisions, infested with badly parked cars, often on those green spaces, now all churned up. And who'd build an estate there days with open space just for the hell of it?
