Chippy overturns deep fried Mars Bar banner ban

CONTRARY to now popular belief, the deep fried Mars Bar doesn’t rank alongside haggis and porridge as traditional Scottish fare, and is not something that Scottish children have grown up eating.
Instead, the ridiculous snack popped up as a culinary reference at some point in the mid-90s, as much a publicity stunt as a regular choice at the chippy.
The Carron Fish Bar in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, claims to be the home of the batter-covered chocolate bar, and that particular chippy got a blaze of publicity when Scottish paper the Daily Record reported on “Scotland’s craziest takeaway” back in 1995.
The same chippy has had another advertising shot in the arm in the 2015, with a campaign against a local council decision to remove a banner proclaiming The Carron to be “the birthplace of the world famous deep fried Mars Bar.”
In a local authority bid to prettify the fishing village, an edict was issued to have the banner removed from the front of the building. But owner Lorraine Watson gathered support to keep the banner, which she says attracts tourists from all over the world who queue to buy the unusual snack and have their picture snapped under the sign.
Now Aberdeenshire Council has been forced into a climbdown, says Watson, telling The Guardian newspaper that the official who had instructed the removal had now apologised: “He was back-tracking from it, and said that he hoped he hadn’t caused me any inconvenience. In fact, he’s done me a power of good.
“I’ve even had the Financial Times on the phone this morning and people passing the chip shop have been hooting their horns in support.”
The deep fried Mars Bar seems set to remain a cultural touchstone, at least as far as tourists are concerned, for some time yet.