AS much as choice is a good thing when it comes to takeaways sometimes you just can’t beat the good old staple of fish and chips.

The smell alone can be a winner – but finding fish and chips in Blackburn town centre after 8pm is akin to searching a desert for a particular grain of sand.

The Hake Boat and the Chippery are both closed by that time so attention has to turn to the town’s ‘Kebab Central’, Darwen Street.

So into the Happy Haddock Fish Bar I bravely ventured.

They seem to push their pizza offers more than what should be the signature dish and they also have a wide array of kebabs – I’ll remember that for another time – but it was fish and chips that took my fancy.

The battered fish was okay. It wasn’t the sort of dripping-infused perfection that would get a traditionalist licking their lips but it was passable and the same could be said for the chips.

The portion was plenty big enough but so it should be as fish and chips and a can of Vimto came in at a price more suited to a big kebab – £4.70.

So I wasn’t particularly happy after my visit to the Happy Haddock but I was full and that is the main thing.