Fish bar claims chip world record

Frying up - Tony Barcoe goes for the record

A Cardiff chippy hopes to have fried its way into the Guinness records book for the world's largest bag of chips.

Staff at Dorothy's in the city centre's Caroline Street, dubbed "chip alley" by generations of city revellers, worked in relays to produce 392.5kg of chips.

The effort, equivalent to nearly 3,500 portions, which beat the previous record held by a chip shop in Hereford.

But perhaps the real winners will be pigs at a farm in Monmouthshire, which will be fed the chips afterwards.

An environmental health officer oversaw the challenge, which was part of National Chip Week run by the British Potato Council.

The world's biggest bag of chips is one of five chip-themed events as part of National Chip Week.

Dorothy's Fish Bar, one of the oldest chippies in the city centre, beat the previous record, 368.5kg, held by Alan Williams, of Mr Chips in Hereford.

Irishman Tony Barcoe has run Dorothy's for most of the past 40 years, and took the world record fry-up in his stride.

And after lunch, finally passing the record weight. Enlarge Image

Staff started frying the chips in vegetable oil at 1030 GMT and finished five hours later.

Mr Barcoe said: "We've got the Millennium Stadium across the road from us, and when that kicks out we can have 70,000-odd people looking for food."

After the final weight was verified, he said the attempt was "easy, you should see what we do on a Saturday night."

Mr Williams visited from Hereford to witness the passing of his crown to the Welsh challenger.

His 12-year-old son Elliot came up with the idea for the 2004 challenge when he was given the Guinness Book of Records for Christmas and saw the record was held by someone in Belgium.

"We thought, 'we could beat that," he said. "But it took a good deal of planning."

He said he felt a "bit sad" about losing the record, but wished Mr Barcoe luck.

"Tony's chips are the nicest I've tasted for a long time," he said.

The shop hopes to have beaten a record held by one in Hereford

Now retired after 35 years in the trade, Mr Williams' record breaking days may not be over as he is planning to attempt a journey from Land's End to John o' Groats in a chip van.

The humble chip, served at more than 10,000 chippies across the UK, is in danger of being "misunderstood," according to the British Potato Council.

Spokesperson Caroline Evans said: "There are a lot of misconceptions about chips.

"A lot of people think they are bad for you but you can eat them as part of a healthy balanced diet.

"Oven chips are only 5% fat, and a portion of chip shop chips actually contains half the fat of a cheese-and-pickle sandwich."

The record will now have to be verified by Guinness World Records.