China Express

Address: 132 Manchester Road, Nelson BB9 7AH

Contact: 01282 611666

NELSONIANS for decades knew it as Clark’s chippy — and even two decades after the chips were swapped for chow mein, folk in the town still call it Clark’s.

That is despite the fact that the shop at the junction of Manchester Road and Lomeshaye Road has had at least four name changes in the intervening years.

It used to do a roaring trade from the Star Cycling Club over the road and Hawthorns nightclub a short stagger away.

Those places are now venues of the past — but the China Express, as the shop formerly known as Clark’s is now named — goes on strong despite being at the quiet end of a quiet town.

A crispy shredded beef in chilli sauce caught the eye and, with a portion of fried rice, it seemed the perfect supper.

They even threw in a can of Diet Coke, even though it wasn’t really wanted, and with a price of a tad over £5 it was a deal.

OK, the rice could have been warmer but that was nothing a quick ping in the microwave couldn’t fix and the chilli beef was surprisingly hot and good.

The Star and Hawthorns have gone but the China Express, as we’ll have to call it, is going strong.

It does what it does — but it does it well.