Large queues at new Birmingham chip shop as customers flood in holding one thing in their hands

Dozens of hungry Brummies flooded into a new city chip shop today, Wednesday November 6, all carrying the same thing in their hands. Visitors to the Shard End branch of The Island House chip shop were all carrying pennies to the new Ownall Road takeaway in the hopes of being among the lucky customers to nab a meal for just 1p.

Bosses promised to give away 50 portions of fish and chips, 50 chicken and chips, 50 meat and chips and 50 portions of sausage and chips to customers who came to give their new restaurant a try when it opened at midday. By the time doors opened at 12:05pm, more than 50 people were in line to nab the goodies, flooding into the shop with their coppers.

Among those waiting at the front of the queue were Moira and Stephen Lyons, who live near the chip shop. While the new spot only opened this week, replacing the old Shards Fryer unit, Stephen says that he's already a fan.

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The retiree, who has lived in Shard End since 1979, said: "We've already tried the chips here and they're really nice. I normally have to get a £7 taxi up to the Chester Road to get chips from Cola's so this saves me the cost of a round trip.

"Cola's is very nice as well though, really really nice, but I'm having fish and chips for a penny today. It's nice to have in the community. This new chip shop is beautiful, you can't beat it."

Others in the queue included mothers of small babies, school children and workmen in high vis vests, all coming to claim their 1p lunchtime treat.

Boss Theo Gavriel, who runs The Island House alongside Theo Kyriacou and Zack Michael, said: "We've got more than twice the normal staff in and we've been preparing. I don't want to say we're seasoned pros at it now but every shop is different.

"We chose four meals that we knew we could manage. We couldn't make everything cheaper because it would have been more difficult.

"This shop was previously run by mine and Zack's father-in-law and we've taken it over and turned it into one of mine. We only serve food we're happy to eat ourselves!"

Moira and Stephen headed off home with their fish and chips and within half an hour, the queue had drastically dropped. By our count, though, there were still deals to be had to customers heading in to grab a late lunch.