TASTE TALK: Hunt for (one of the) best chippies in Swindon

THEY are a staple of British Summer Time, and the one thing the world acknowledges we Brits are actually good at doing. So to mark the second annual National Fish and Chip Day on Friday, the Adver’s Taste Test Trio hot-footed it around town to visit five popular chippies to ensure they are keeping the dream alive.

I should probably preface this by pointing out that everyone has their own favourite chippie in town, and as much as we would have loved to have tried each and every one, both time and our waistlines were against us.

Instead, the Adver Elders drew us up a list of five long-standing fish and chip shops that have remained popular in the town over the years to provide a snapshot.

First on the list was County Ground favourite, The Frying Fish on Drove Road. Bundling Adver_Tom and Adver_Chris into my beloved Mini, Nicole, we trundled down the hill from Adver Towers, having had very light lunches in anticipation of what lay ahead of us that evening.

As it was a week night, it was fairly quiet in The Frying Fish, and we didn’t have to wait long for our order of cod and chips (£4.60).

Despite having reservations about the building itself, all three of us were pleasantly surprised by our first dinner of the evening.

“I was expecting it to be awful, and the fish looked a bit greasy, but it was actually quite nice,” Adver_Chris declared, as we finished our shared portion on the wall outside, while he explained in detail to us his intense distaste of chips that are “sunshine yellow” in colour. Luckily, these had passed the test.

So far, so good, as we piled back into Nicole to head down the road to our second stop of the night, County Fayre in York Road.

Here a portion of cod and chips set us back £5.60, and a slightly longer wait, as this chippie was proving popular this night.

Unfortunately our chips could maybe have done with a little longer in the fryer, but the fish itself was absolutely delicious and fell apart to the touch.

Adver_Chris wasn’t a fan of the batter, but Adver_Tom and I happily finished that off between us.

“I can’t say enough good things about the fish,” he said (mainly because his mouth was still full at this point).

From here it was another short drive up to our third stop of the night, Trident Fish Bar in Victoria Road, although by now Nicole’s suspension was starting to grumble a little bit.

We had really high hopes for this one – prime town centre location, top three ranking on TripAdvisor (behind two pubs) and a very clean, modern kitchen that greeted us.

Sadly those were the only promising things the three of us had to say about this chipper. Despite the fish being cooked fresh in front of us, our cod and chips (£5.50) was almost tasteless, while the chips were very much undercooked. With two more chip shops yet to try, we ditched our box in a bin in Regent Circus less than half eaten and moved on rather swiftly.

On the home stretch now, our fourth stop of the night was Phillip’s Traditional Fish & Chips in Cricklade Road in Gorse Hill. Sadly when we got there, we found the shutters down, with a note saying they would be closed until today. We shall have to make a return visit soon.

Time to consult TripAdvisor for a last-minute stand-in, with us all in agreement on Pinehurst Fisheries in The Circle.

Despite negotiating the seemingly endless speedbumps in Pinehurst Road, during which we were overtaken by a teenager in a Corsa, a pensioner on a mobility scooter and four youths on skateboards, we arrived at The Circle only to find the shutters down once again. Another one we will have to pop back and visit in the future.

This led us to venture a little further out of town again to Fish & Chips On Thames Avenue in, erm, Thames Avenue.

What a gem this turned out to be. Fresh, modern, with digital menus on the walls, friendly, helpful staff – and even the option of having a deep-fried Oreo.

We declined the latter, but I will definitely be heading back there to give those a try another time!

This restaurant, which has only been in business for the past two-and-a-half-years, really excelled at its main dish, which is what we were there for. £7.75 bought us a decent sized portion of cod and chips and three drinks to wash it all down with.

Adver_Chris even rolled out his high praise for this place.

“The batter was very nice, and the fish tasted of fish, unlike the last place.” he said.

“We were lucky to find it as an emergency stand-in, and it just goes to show that as time moves on some of the fish and chip shops which were reliable five or six years ago have long since lost their shine.”

It was also very busy, with families coming in to take orders home, while a couple sat on the wall enjoying their evening meal, and wondering what we were doing eating our own dinner off the roof of a Mini (the bonnet is too low to work as a table, although it does keep them surprisingly warm).

The fact that this place is ranked at #97 on TripAdvisor behind the likes of The Trident is an absolute crime.

It was now starting to get dark, so we made our way round to Britz at the West Swindon Shopping Centre, which turned out to be a great choice to round off the evening.

Despite being pretty much full, Adver_Tom declared these his favourite of the whole evening, marginally ahead of Thames Avenue, although both Adver_Chris and I were in disagreement with him over this.

The fish was tasty, with a crisp batter and the chips had been fried to perfection. At £6 for the portion it wasn’t bad value, and was miles ahead of some of our earlier exploits.

In need of a rest after all that fried food we decamped to Costa at Junction 16 (the only coffee shop we knew to be open at that time of night!) to mull over our meals. It became clear that there could be no outright favourite from all three of us, even if Adver_Chris and I did both declare Thames Avenue to be the one for us. But from there it became slightly more complicated, with us all agreeing that County Fayre, Britz and Thames Avenue also belonged in the top three — we just couldn’t agree where…