According to CNBC, Fish and Chip shops around the UK fear for their survival due to the rising cost of fish and energy.
No chippies in the UK would be like no pizza in NYC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/07/fish-and-chip-shops-fear-for-survival-as-energy-prices-surge.html
Thanks for the article link. As bad as we think we have it here, it seems to be worse in the UK. I hope they get some relief soon cause the UK without fish n chips would be very sad. Our neighborhood never got over the closing of our place about 15 years ago, due to retirement. Still miss and talk about it all these years later.
It isn't just chippies... many places in trouble. Every night on the news yet more taken to the edge.
A woman yesterday related how she couldn't afford the bills and was moving into a tent.
Nigel, I have a feeling the immediate future doesn't bode well in terms of the economy. I'm in Scotland at a favorite hotel and have been here about 3 weeks. I've stayed many times in the past and I know the staff.
They are all worried about the rising cost of energy and food. The hotel had planned some remodeling but they had to put it on hold because the money earmarked for the project now has to go towards energy bills.
Another thought is that recent article addressed the possibility of a pint of beer going to £20. For survival. Not because of the cost of beer, but the other costs of running a pub.
Would you pay £20 for a pint of beer?
I had read earlier this year that as many as 50% of the chippies could go out of business this year. It’s a shame. As far as £20 a pint, I’m glad I don’t like beer.
a pint of beer was 2/10, or nearly 15p in the new money.
Change is hard. Get used to it. Decimal currency is better. The New York Times was 5 cents when I first remember it in the early 1960s. 6.5 ounce bottles (only size?) of Coca-Cola were 7 cents, including a 2 cent deposit.
"[James] Bond figured his expenses in new Francs, because they looked smaller" (approximate quotation from memory)
This was in the news weeks ago in the U.K., so CNBC are a bit behind with the news!
It’s not just fish and chip shops, but pubs, cafes, hotels and many other businesses that are struggling to survive the rocketing energy prices.
I am too young to remember pre decimalisation!
Yes £11. 3 shillings and 9 pence is so very easy to multiply by 7
it would most commonly be 3/6 not 3/9. But it is still easy, 6d is half a shilling and 9d is three quarters. simples.
I grew up with LSD and it really wasn't hard. I was on the till at my uncle's pub at age something like 11 and I never had any problem. And these weren't your put in amount tendered and I'll tell you the change type - it was all in the head.
£11-3-9 is quite a lot of money so 7 of them is a big purchase. What are you buying?
Old money aside, it isn't a laughing matter. There are an awful lot of people in a not good place. There was an artisanal glass blower on the news last night who said that her company in Bath, Bath AquaGlass, which has 17 employees has seen her utility bill go from £14,000 to £233,000. She has said that she simply can't pay those bills.
The Fish and Chip thing is really interesting. People in the UK are really stuck on the concept that Fish is cod, or haddock - and it is difficult to shift views.
When I go to football, I often used to grab f&c before a game (particularly evening matches) and got quite friendly with the local chipshop owner. He tried, for a while, to serve different sorts of fish. Hake from South Africa, Pollock etc. Nothing would sell, even at half the price of cod. He said he dispaired, because even in his poor area of the city, people refused to try something cheaper or more sustainable - "I cannot even get them to try it for free".
