Artist goes on a chippy run down the East Coast

1 hour ago

Eleanor MaslinEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

News image — Paul Digby has been drawing fish and chip shops as a celebration of working class communities

Jordan Lea A man is wearing glasses, a grey thick coat and a navy beanie, and he has a sketchbook open in front of him, on a wall. He is drawing a building in pencil. A window of a building is behind him and there is a white wall and a grey car in the background. — Paul Digby has been drawing fish and chip shops as a celebration of working class communities

An artist has been sketching fish and chip shops along the East Coast as part of a project to celebrate the famous British favourite.

Paul Digby has been to 12 restaurants in a collaborative project with poet Ian McMillan, with their work to be displayed in an exhibition at Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre next year.

"It's a celebration of working class communities and a staple British food," said Digby.

"No matter where you are, you know what you're going for."

Digby has visited fish and chip shops including The Leaking Boot in Cleethorpes, Marina in Chapel St Leonards, Whitehead's in Hornsea, and Newton's in Patrington, Holderness.

He has one more to visit, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to complete his mission from Northumberland to East Anglia.

"There was a plethora of different stories people wanted to tell us about fish and chips," he said.

"In Cleethorpes it's a religion and there's a debate as to which is the best one.

"We weren't after a big thing – just engaging with communities."

Jordan Lea A man in a grey thick coat and navy beanie is drawing a building in a large sketchbook with pencils next to him. A small road is in front of him with a building opposite which has a black exterior and reads "Lighthouse Fisheries" in white lettering across its front. — Paul Digby said people had been keen to share their stories about fish and chips

Digby, who was born in Grimsby and lives in Leeds, added that while coastal fish and chip shops might "seem strong", the picture could be a bit different in towns and cities.

"It's a minefield of survival for a lot of them," he said, referring to the increasing cost of fish.

But what they served up on his visits was top notch.

"I kept getting free fish and chips, which I was getting worried about with my waistline," he said.

"I had to start asking for a reduced portion. They were all really good."

Poet Ian McMillan serves up ode to fish and chips

McMillan, from Barnsley, has written a sonnet about fish and chips, and Digby told BBC Radio Humberside: "Kids have been responding to his poem.

"It's triggered things like Ian using the term 'bits' in his poem, and the kids are going 'What are bits?'

"We said they are scraps – depending where you are, little things change."

McMillan said: "The best bit about fish and chips is the anticipation.

"The moment before the fish and chips approach the mouth, you think 'These will be the best fish and chips that have ever been eaten in the history of civilisation"."

The exhibition is being supported by the National Federation of Fish Fryers and funded by Arts Council England.

It will be on at the Muriel Barker Gallery from 16 January to 3 May next year.

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