Viral Shropshire chippy racks up millions of TikTok views with outrageous battered creations

Cousins Ban Vanezi and Ban Prokopiou of The Silver Fish began the series as a behind-the-counter experiment, but it’s now turned their chippy into a social media favourite, drawing customers from across the region.

“I like to make, for myself, really crazy burgers - full of things like chicken nuggets and doner meat - and my cousin thought ‘let’s film some stuff and put it on TikTok’,” said Vanezi.

“So we did that, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.”

One of their most popular clips - a fish in 100 layers of batter - has been viewed more than four million times. But it’s their battered brownies, made fresh on site, that the pair say are the real stars.

“The brownies are the best,” said Prokopiou. “I’m not biased because I make them, but they did taste the best.”

The series has seen the pair batter and fry supermarket favourites Cuthbert and Colin the Caterpillar. Their Aldi‑inspired creation alone attracted more than a million views - and even prompted comments from the official Aldi and M&S accounts.

A Halloween special saw Prokopiou carving a pumpkin before dunking it in batter. “It was disgusting,” he admitted. “I kept gagging.”

The online attention has translated into real‑world footfall, with some customers travelling more than an hour to experience the chippy’s viral creations.

“We had some people drive over an hour because they saw our battered doner strips,” said Prokopiou, who said they don’t usually take requests.

“We don’t usually do stuff like that, but we sat them down in the restaurant and made some for them and they really appreciated it.”

With millions of views under their belt, it seems Wellington’s most adventurous chip shop duo have no plans to put down the batter bowl any time soon.