Simpson’s Fish & Chips today (Sunday 18th) became the latest outlet to open at Bradley Stoke’s Willow Brook shopping centre.
The family-owned chippy, which will compete head-on with Subway and KFC, is situated in Town Square unit 9 – next door to Ladbrokes.
The business opened it doors at 11:45 today, which will be the regular opening time on all seven days of the week. The shop will trade until 9:30pm Monday to Saturday and 6:30pm on Sundays.
The Bradley Stoke branch becomes the third in the group’s portfolio, following openings in Chepstow (January 2009) and Cheltenham (November 2009).
Owners Brian and Janette Simpson say they have been in the fish and chip trade for 34 years, perfecting their art in eleven different shops.
Janette told The Journal:
“Our ethos is simple, we want to provide the best fish and chips to our customers while maintaining cleanliness, great customer service and professionalism. We do not serve fast food, we serve great food, fast!”
The company says it has a policy of cooking fish to order, unless it’s very busy, to guarantee freshness. All the food is probed to make sure it’s at the correct temperature before being served.
Asked what the new shop will bring to Bradley Stoke, Mrs Simpson said:
We hope to provide a friendly and reliable local chippy that guarantees great food every time you return. It’s nice seeing our name next to big successful fast food chains and we hope we can keep up!
The company is running a ‘20% off fish and chips’ promotion during its first week of trading. Look out for the special flyers being handed out in the Town Square.
More information and related links:
- More photos from the opening: album; slideshow (PicasaWeb)
- Takeaway Food Outlets in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
- Phone numbers of shops at the Willow Brook Centre (The Journal)
Lovely fish and chips. Really nice inside the shop. One criticism I have is that no plastic bags were provided to put in the food in, instead I had to carry the hot food inside a small paper bag between my arms to the car. I appreciate its not very green handing out plastic bags; but using brown paper bags would be better.
If you haven’t tried it, then you really should; in my opinion one of the best chip shops in the area.
Lovely fish, although wasnt too keen on the chips, but I’m putting that down to the fact that they were using new potatoes. The free sample of their home made tartare sauce was a lovely suprise, and extrememly delicious. The batter was amazing, crisp, light and beautifully tasty, and the cod was delicious.
But best of all, friendly cheerful staff, and the shop itself was sparkling clean.
Welcome to Bradley Stoke Simpsons!
Compared to Winterbourne chippy portion size is very small and expensive. Disappointingly, Simpsons make Deep Blue look good value (something I thought I would never say) although in general, it would be hard for the staff to be as bad.
Tried it today and was very unimpressed. Portion size very small, expensive and tinned peas (again expensive) instead of home made. The excellent Fairbanks in Winterbourne have no competition from Simpsons.
I have to say that i was sooo looking forward to Simpsons opening as i refuse to eat from Deep Blue as their fish and chips are just not nice! I have finally had a chance to eat cod and chips from Simpsons and was just a little bit shocked at the price of a regular size cod and chips! Although i felt the cod and chips were lovely, the cod was pretty small @ a price of £5.45 with chips! Nearly didnt buy it and there is no way that as a family of 4 that we would buy 4 lots! Guess we will now give Winterbourne a try! But i will say that there is no fault with the staff or the shop itself, just the prices and portions of food that is a big let down 🙁
My Wife and I had two pieces of haddock, one bag of large chips and Mushy peas. This was ample for the two of us, the haddock was very tasty and probably the best Haddock I have ever had.
I am frankly appalled. It is a good job the service at Simpson’s fish and chips is terrible, otherwise my boyfriend wouldn’t have had time to notice the sign mentioning that they cook all their food in pure groundnut oil. I am severely allergic to peanuts and can’t believe that they would make such a ridiculous business decision. This could prove deadly. 1% of the population has a peanut allergy, not to mention the fact that you shouldn’t give peanuts to any child under the age of five. I just cannot understand what would drive them to do this when every other fish and chip shop in the country is happy to use other oils. Yet another food establishment that it is not safe for me to frequent.
In addition, many people do not realise that groundnut oil is peanut oil. If this had been a friend instead of boyfriend making the purchase, I could be in hospital right now.
On the back of the comments to date I thought I would be open minded and try Simpsons for myself, so here goes my pennies worth:
The positives: I found the food first class, the staff were polite and helpful, and the premises clean and tidy.
The not so positives: Compared to Fairbanks in Winterbourne, the prices are a lot more expensive for the fish, especially when I’m feeding a family of 4. Also the portion sizes are not as big meaning the value for money is less. Finally, I found a majority of food to be less greasey, except the kids nuggets which were fairly soggy with grease, not something I want to be feeding to my children.
I also feel for the post by Nicola, maybe Simpsons need to put up a bigger sign about the oil they use ?
I’m sorry Nicola is unable to enjoy Bradley Stoke’s latest eatery due to her medical condition but like she says there is a sign and i believe it was even in their advertising prior to opening that they would use groundnut oil. So get over it and go elsewhere, it certainly seems to enhance the taste for the 99% of the population who don’t have an allergy so i reckon its a pretty sound business decision on their part.
As for the clinically obese individuals complaining about portion size all I can say is eat less, exercise more and stop being a drain on the NHS.
I get sick of this groundnut oil thing! I have a peanut allergy and even I know that refined groundnut oil is perfectly safe as all the protein in the nuts that we’re allergic to is removed. Do your research Nicola!
“Food allergies are caused by the protein components of food. Edible oils and fats in the EU undergo extensive refining processing which removes virtually all protein from the oil. It was always thought unlikely that refined groundnut oil could be allergenic and this has now been scientifically tested. Research has shown that refined groundnut oil would not cause reactions for the overwhelming majority of peanut allergic individuals and if any reaction did occur, it would almost certainly be mild. As predicted, the research did show, however, that unrefined oil could cause a reaction in some people, so should be avoided by those with peanut allergy.”
info from this page:
http://www.neoda.org.uk/pages/articlesGroundnutOil.html
Personally I enjoyed my food. Maybe they’re still finding their feet?
I’m sorry I said anything. It was immediately after I found out and I was in shock and felt incredibly vulnerable. Thanks for the advice, Jim, but doctors have always recommended steering clear. I can’t imagine ever feeling comfortable with eating anything peanut related.
Once again, apologies, and I hope 99% enjoy their fish and chips.
in reply to Benji….. not all of us who complained about portion size are obese, thankyou very much! I am actually someone who weighs less than 9 stone and i certainly do get plenty of exercise! I thought people were commenting on the food and/or service, everyone is entitled to their opinion but it seems some just like to take it upon themselves to use it as an excuse to make assumptions about people who comment. Even if i was obese, it certainly wouldnt be any of your business and this page is not for making personal, offensive comments about people you know nothing about! Lets try to stick to the subject eh! I found Simpsons lovely but just thought they were a bit pricey for the portion size……that doesnt mean i want a larger portion, it just means i would like their current portion size to be a bit cheaper!
in reply to Tracey… I appolgise for my flippancy! I was unaware we were writing the Michelin guide.
You do though make a good point i could be wrong. Those complaining about portion size may not all be obese they could equally be recovering anorexics. 🙂
As boring as it seems, I went and had no complaints. Nice food, decent portion size – seemed a little expensive, but not ridiculously so.
Went along to try it, put my order in and was told they don’t take credit or debit cards. I was pointed to a cash machine outside, but took the option of going up to Deep Blue instead who were more than happy to take my card and give a very nice cod and chips…
Won’t be going back I’m afraid.
Top notch food. Not one for fish but the steak pie and chips were the nicest I’ve had this side of the bridge.
Just a shame you can’t get a good clarks over ‘ere 😉
If you visit their website it explains why they use groundnut oil.
lol @ nicola, a prime example of a knee jerk reaction that far too often (especially in this country) has too much say. Think before you speak/type.
Dave P,
You’re quite silly for not trying their food simply because they didn’t take card. However, you’ll be pleased to know that they have recently began accepting cards, even though there is a machine two seconds from the door. I assume this is because so many people had issues with walking to a cashpoint mere steps away.
Deep Blue has nothing on Simpsons.
However, now that you don’t have to make the dreadful effort that is putting a card into te cashpoint, you should really get over yourself and try their food.
I actually find it astounding that you won’t return simply based on their lack of card machine, not based on whether or not the food is good.
Enjoy your inferior food.
As for portions, they were absolutely fine, in my opinion. I had a lite bites meal and was completely food!
Another time I bought a large bag of chips, which doesn’t look huge, but when you pour it onto a plate, it fills it! I shared it with my boyfriend, and we just about finished it!
@Graham:
Have you seen their Meal deals in-store? They’re designed for a family of four. Four meals with chips, a big Drink AND Tar-tar sauce for twenty quid or ten quid, depending which meal deal. Not too bad, it filled my lot. The food’s good so you should give their meal-deals a try.
I have become a regular at Simpsons simply because of the quality of the food. I can go in there and feel assured I will not receive sub standard food and there will be plenty of it! As for the prices, well you get what you pay for and to be fair their’s hardly break the bank! If it’s purely a gigantic portion of inferior quality then there are places to cater for you but I can guarantee it won’t be as an enjoyable meal!
By the way @ Jim, I too have a peanut allergy and have never had a fear of groundnut oil or a hint of a reaction. If I did however, rather than feel vulnerable I would use my epipen 🙂
Keep up the good work guys, your food is splendid!!
@ dave p, i got fish and chips from them last night (after i did the weekly shopping).
they were glad to take my credit card they did say that there card machine had just been delivered, they cant help it if it had not been delivered yet (when you went) we all know what the postal systems like,
Simpsons are still a new business at bradley stoke and my fish and chip were yummy….and there home made tarter sauce was the perfect partner.
Actually very dissapointed with the portion size fish was very small and regular chips and very small must of had about 20 chips in the bag!!!!! and expensive for what you get!!!! compared to winterbourne fish and chip shop wich is just as clean and profeesional and you get so much food, aswell as baines fryer in little stoke half a bag of chips cost 70p and theres more chips in that bag than in a regualr bag of simpsons chips!!!! tried it once and will definatley not be returning far more better fish and chip shops about better value for money.
Great that they take cards now. However, I would have thought that if they were waiting for a card machine they would have said “we can’t take cards at the moment our machine hasn’t arrived” rather than just “we don’t take cards” – which implies some sort of anti-card policy.
Anyway as Lyla pointed out with great perception (ignoring the fact that I didn’t want to pay with cash – it was nothing to do with the effort) – I’m quite silly. I guess she’s in a position to make this judgement because as she says “she completely ‘food'”
🙂
Very disappointed by the quality of the fish at Simpsons!!
Deep Blue will definitely be retaining my business!
Ugh Mr Bradley Stokes Deep Blue are disgusting! I can’t believe you prefer that! Batter is always soggy and nasty and chips are always greasy. Can’t believe these complaints I’ve eaten at Simpsons 6 times now (free next time due to loyalty card!) and every time it’s been spot on. Best fish and chips I’ve ever had by far.
By the way when you aren’t happy do you go in and tell them you’re not happy or do you all just simmer until you let rip on a local webpage? Like Jane said they are still a new business so you may as well give it another go and see if it was just a one off.
Good News Stevie F – Harvester are coming to town!
You will now be able to go out and have the best meal you’ve ever had by far!
Not really interested in the Harvester mate and the patronising won’t wash with me. You’re obviously a miserable sod judging by your posts around the site. Get a life and stop winging on websites.
In actual fact I am quite a cheery soul. Never winged on a website though!
Differences of opinion make the world go round, that’s what forums are all about.
I am entitled to whinge just as you are entitled to wing.
Not a comment about Simpsons, as have not been there yet as really love Fairbanks in Winterbourne. Just had to write a comment about the twat called Benji, who made a comment about obesity and anorexia. Obviously a sad inidivudal who leads a sad life!