Opening of Mother Hubbard's Worcester sees hour-long queues

Mother Hubbard’s Famous Fish and Chips opened its doors for the first time today, with hundreds of people joining the queue for a chance to get a 45p supper.

Queues first started building at 9am, two hours before the restaurant was due to open.

Franchise owner, Zahid Lone, said: “I am really happy with the crowd we have and thankful for everybody that has come down to join us today.

“We had about 400 people in the first hour and everything is running smoothly.

“Queues started building from 9am and it hasn’t stopped since, at one point the line was stretching round to the front of Wickes.

“We are trying our best to serve everyone as quickly as possible.

“The fryer has been going non-stop all day and we have a big team working extremely hard behind the counter.”

The queue at around 12:30pm on Saturday, an hour and a half after opening

One reason for the queues was no doubt the introductory offer.

Mr Lone planned to offer the first 1,000 customers fish and chips for just 45p, but after seeing the demand on the opening day, he decided to extend this by another 200.

He said that at one stage waiting times grew to nearly an hour.

However despite this, Mr Lone had no worries about running out of fish and believes that Mother Hubbard’s special ingredient will set them apart from other chippies in Worcester.

He added: “Some people are concerned that we are not a local franchise but the team working here really is.

“We are not here to compete, we offer something different and that is we just serve haddock.

“People who have tried it are saying they won’t go for cod again as it has so much more flavour

“It is a bit more expensive it is worth the price.”

The first Mother Hubbard’s opened in Bradford in 1972.

Worcester becomes the 13th branch of the franchise, with plans to open more in cities such as London, Liverpool and Birmingham.

The Worcester branch officially opened at 11am on Saturday May 21, taking over the former Pizza Hut building on Shrub Hill Retail Park.

The restaurant offers on-site dining as well as a takeaway option.

Perhaps the standout feature is the large video screens on the counters and ceiling showing video clips of sharks and fish, creating an almost aquarium-like atmosphere.

There is also a nod to Worcester’s past, with photographs of the city from times gone by, including historic Tallow Hill landmarks such as the Beehive pub and Shrub Hill Hospital.

View from the back of the queue at midday