XIII Oceans

A brief guide to Haydock’s fish and chip history in the modern era (part one)

From being a child, chippy chips were a treat and as delicious a food as you could get. The birth of Wimpy in St Helens town centre around the turn of the 80s clouded mine and many others judgement as the hamburger arrived in town along with ‘fries’. It would be easy to rail against the corporate machine now but at the time hamburgers were new and exciting and as for the concept of actually sitting down and eating in what is now marketed as a restaurant was such a thrill for a kid. This was followed several years later with the death of Toy And Hobby and the landing of McDonald’s, which didn’t carry the same kind of buzz as Wimpy’s for me, which isn’t the usual “I hate McDonald’s statement”, more “Wimpy tastes better and has been driven out of the town centre by a Yankee clown!”

However good I imagined those Wimpy burgers to be, my love for such waned as my taste buds developed which is probably a similar story to many others. What hasn’t changed is my memory of the chips served from Dixon’s chippy from when I was much younger. Heading down to the chippy on my bike during the summer holidays having sausage roll and chips in those days, the chips were and still remain the best that Haydock has served to the general public in my existence there. The old lady testing whether the chips have been cooked thoroughly be squeezing them with her unprotected fingers, something that should put you off but is strangely reassuring. This was a dynamite of a chippy. Unfortunately during my younger years fish was a bit too much for a then little man to consume and so I never managed to assess their quality. Dixon’s stopped trading and that chip shop laid dormant for what felt like years.