When my and dad Tom M1EYP took a daytrip to Scotland back in June earlier this year, we activated Hightown Hill GM/SS-283 (now replaced by White Hill GM/SS-289), See Morris Hill GM/SS-274 and Bishop Forest Hill GM/SS-228. On the drive home, we were in search of a chippy for some battered haggis and chips before crossing the border into England. We could not find any in Dumfries and we could not see any traditional chippy’s in Annan either, but what we found to Annan was this pizza place which was also a chippy. Luckily they did battered haggis and chips there which tasted surprisingly good with it being pizza place and was washed down with the traditional Scottish drink of Irn Bru. What this pizza place also had on the menu from what a seem to recall was a haggis pizza and a scotch pie and beans pizza which I guess deep fried and battered also, my dad may have a better memory than me on this though.
That brings back memories, around 1975 in Stourbridge
2 pints of Simpkiss bitter, 10p for the jukebox, bag of pork scratchings (half were eaten by the pub cat) and saveloy and chips on the way home. All for about £1
The pub (Waterloo in Wollaston) is now an Indian restaurant but the chippie is still there !
But where they cooking the pizza properly? Typically a pizza in a chip shop around these parts is dipped in batter and then fried and is known as a Scrunchie.
Irn Bru is a shadow of its former self since the sugar taxes were introduced. The “full fat” Irn Bru has significantly less sugar than before to get to the lower tax levels. Aficionados say it’s rubbish now. The diet Irn Bru was never considered a proper drink. Sadly my pancreas had expired long before I relocated to Scotland and it’s only recently I’ve been prepared to drink Irn Bru so I have never known the real stuff. But even the diet version goes well with Vodka. Cheap Vodka not that sublime but crazy expensive French Grey Goose Vodka.
Yes, that’s how I have always known it, a dessert. There is a fruit pudding served like a slice of Black pudding served with a Full Scottish Breakfast that is less sweet.
We used to have to run past the Simkiss Brewery on cross country runs the stink was incredible you could almost chew it…
Long gone of course, fortunately Batham’s survived I was weaned on Batham’s Bitter, The Royal Exchange in Enville Street was almost my permanent address
Indeed Fraser. I got so drunk at a party in June 1975 that I got alcohol poisoning. A pint of IB swiftly got me back into the world of the sensible. That was the day after, as I was unconscious until 2pm. Never again!!!
Bathams … my brother still lives in the area and was a big fan of the Royal Exchange for many years - he has the biggest collection of glasses and beer mats I’ve ever seen and still drinks like a glassblower
We used to do a New Year pubcrawl in Wollaston - I think it took in 13 pubs, several of them now gone.
Cross country runs … I don’t suppose you were at King Edwards ? Cross country from Vicarage Road - across the opencast mine, along the cut ?
I was lead to believe that Clootie dumpling was a breakfast dish, designed to line the bellies of hunters shooters, fishermen and other preditators.
Along with that gastranomic miracle, the deep fried pizza, the chippie in Fort William also provisioned deep fried Mars bars.
This “quizine” was designed to retain the maximum amount of saturated FAT!
Still live in Stourbridge but don’t get into the Royal Exchange these days - not the same since they opened it all up. Too many memories in there. ISTR it even had inside toilets at my last visit!
Our New Year’s regular haunt was the Crown out at Iverley, long before it became a poncey restaurant - a Davenports house, another name lost to us.
Got it in one. The smell of the gas works drifting across the playing fields is never to be forgotten
Speaking of pongs, there was the skin works at the back of the school too …
I was at KE from 72-75, and left just before it became a sixth form college
I am surprised to hear David that there is a chippy in Fort William that sells deep fried Mars Bars, we had a weeks holiday in Fort William back in 2008 and did not come across any chippies there that sell deep fried Mars Bars at all, in fact we have not come across a single chippy in Scotland that sells deep fried Mars Bars yet. I guess that chippy you found in Fort William that sold deep fired Mars Bars must have been before 2008?
I see your (Scottish) deep fried Mars bar and raise you a (Teesside) chicken parmo. I think we’ve diverged topics (slightly), but can anyone offer an even less healthy regional delicacy?
Not sure if this counts as a less heathy regional delicacy, but I heard that chippies and bakeries in Wigan do what is called a “Wigan Kebab” which is a Meat & Potato Pie inside a barm. Also one of the chippies in my hometown of Macclesfield and the only chippy that I know do this ever, sells battered Steak & Kidney Puddings which I say that this must be the most unhealthy regional delicacy, but it tastes really good though.
Ah yes, the battered steak and kidney pudding from Crompton Road Chippy, Macclesfield. You actually feel yourself edging closer to death while eating it!
I was weaned on Batham’s Bitter, The Royal Exchange in Enville Street was almost my permanent address 
