Two Steps: Fascinating history of Sheffield's oldest fish and chip shop and how it got its unusual name

The intriguingly-named fish and chip shop, on Sharrow Vale Road, dates back to at least 1895 – making it not just Sheffield’s oldest but one of the longest-running in the world. It remains hugely popular today, as it defies the cost-of-living crisis, with customers often queuing out of the door.

The current owner, ‘Laggy’, has been there for more than 20 years and boasts over four decades of experience in the trade, having previously run chippies in Birmingham and Weston-super-Mare, among other places.

It is believed to have been opened by James Bolton, listed in an 1895 trades directory as a ‘fried fish dealer’. By the early 20th century, it had passed into the hands of a Mr Ward, who ran it with his son and, according to legend, had a famous run-in with a Mr Pass, who run the neighbouring paper shop. When Mr Pass accused him of failing to use ‘proper dripping’ – as was the custom back then – an outraged Mr Ward is said to have accosted him in the alleyway between the properties and forced him to try some of his chips so he would ‘eat his words’.

It was later taken over by the ‘Coles’ sisters, who ran it throughout the First World War before selling it in 1925 to the Hardy family. The shop has changed hands numerous times since then, with its longest-running tenants being Nan and Graham, who ran it for 34 years until the 1980s and are still fondly remembered by some customers. Laggy tells how he took it over from a couple who had been there for about eight years.

How Two Steps fish and chip shop got its name

He told The Star how the business had got its name back in the 1920s when there was an army barracks down the road. “There were five fish and chip shops around at the time, so the soldiers used to say ‘go to the one with two steps’, and the name stuck,” he said.

Two Steps has earned praised over the years from the likes of the Guardian and The Times newspapers, and singer Tony Christie posed outside for the sleeve of his 2008 album Made In Sheffield.

Laggy is confident Two Steps is the oldest fish and chip shop in Sheffield and believes it is probably in the top five globally. According to Visit England, the world’s oldest fish and chip shop is in Yeadon, West Yorkshire, where it has been trading continuously since 1965. For the avoidance of any doubt, it has been renamed The Oldest Fish & Chip Shop in the World!

It’s worth pointing out that Portugal can claim to have invented fish and chips back in the 15th century, though not fish and chips as we know it in the UK – and certainly not with mushy peas, gravy or a good old Yorkshire fishcake.

Asked about the secret behind Two Steps’ longevity, Laggy says it is a ‘good spot’, with the shop today being popular with students, workers popping in on their lunch breaks and families in the evening, and Fridays unsurprisingly being its busiest day. “I just try to look after the customers. That’s all you can do. We have a lot of loyal customers,” he adds.

The one thing this famous Sheffield fish and chip shop refuses to serve

When Laggy took over, he changed a few things. But when asked what, he jokes that he can’t tell me or ‘I’ll have to shoot you’. He does, however, say that for him the key is to buy quality ingredients. The one thing he refuses to add to the menu, despite the odd request, is a battered Mars Bar. “It ruins the oil and I don’t agree with it anyway. It’s a heart attack on a plate,” he says.

The cost-of-living crisis is taking its toll, with the war in Ukraine having pushed up the price of many ingredients, including cod and haddock. “We’ve tried using other types of fish, but everybody likes cod and haddock,” explains Laggy. He tells how the last 12 months have been ‘very difficult’, with a number of his friends having sold up. Laggy is confident the ‘strongest will survive’, though he says the demise of even well-established shops like Roney's Butchers, on Sharrow Vale Road, which closed last year after more than 80 years, shows no one is safe.

The most popular item on the menu

Laggy’s had to put prices up, as have almost all chippies, but fish and chips remains one of the cheapest meals out, with the mini fish and chips at a wallet-friendly £4.10 being the most popular item on the menu these days.