Barton Fish Bar

Barton Fish Bar trades from the Oak Road parade in Barton-under-Needwood, the large village between Burton and Lichfield best known for its medieval church and its position on the Trent and Mersey Canal. It is the village chippy in the most straightforward sense — open for the school-lunch trade at midday and again at teatime, with cod, haddock, sausage and pie ranged behind the glass and a steady queue from the surrounding estates.

The shop holds a 5-rating from East Staffordshire Council on its most recent food-hygiene inspection, which is the bar a chippy in a village this size needs to clear. Customer comments on Restaurantji and Yellowtom run favourable, with regulars praising the crisp batter and the prompt service at lunch. Lunchtime hours are short (a couple of hours over the dinner break) before the kitchen reopens for the tea queue, with a slightly longer Friday-night service to take in the after-work trade. Barton itself is not over-supplied with chip shops — the nearest serious rivals are in Stretton and Branston — so the Oak Road operation effectively serves the whole village and the new-build estates that have crept north along Forest Road.