We remember the days when you could pay for a fish and chip supper with a five-pound note, and still have change for the bus fare home.
OK, we’re exaggerating a bit – but the point is that the traditional British seaside dish was always pretty good value for money.
Those days seem to be well and truly on the way out, though, with news reaching us that Rick Stein is charging £1.25 just for a splurge of SAUCE at his Padstow chippy.
And diners have got a real chip on their shoulder (sorry) over the steeply priced condiment.
Tourists flock to the Cornish resort – dubbed Padstein – to experience a meal at one of the celebrity chef’s eateries.
The Oxfordshire-born personality, 70, has four restaurants in the town, as well as a seafood bar and a pub.
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As with any ‘posh’ restaurant, you’d expect to pay a bit over the odds for food – and at Stein’s Fish & Chips, you’ll have to stump up £11 for a cod meal.
But if you want a pouch of Heinz ketchup or tartare sauce to go with your dinner, you’re looking at an extra £1.50 if you’re eating in, or 35p if you’re taking away.
One critic wrote on TripAdvisor: “When we got the bill, we found that we had been charged £1.25 for each tartare sauce. I pointed this out.
“The waitress said it was on the menu. Fair enough, but you would have thought that they were free and she was just asking for completeness.
“If she had said would we like mushy peas, then we would have asked if they were included. Presumably this is a sales ploy. I’m afraid I will not be watching Rick Stein on TV again.”
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And that disgruntled diner wasn’t the only one to have beef with the posh eatery.
Another tweeted: “I spend over £30 for 3 of us..plus 35p for a squirt of ketchup!”
While someone else wrote: “35P FOR SOME KETCHUP?! Have a word…”
Guess we’d better not ask for a slice of bread and butter, then!