I was involuntarily listening to two old ladies talking loudly to each other the other day. One, to the astonishment of the other, said she had never had a chip butty.
Being a true man of the world, I have had many chip butties in my time.
FYI, if needed, a chip butty is chips (ie french fries, NOT crisps) sandwiched between bread slices or in a bap/bun. Arguably it should be buttered, but we will ignore that for the purposes of the following poll:
Q. HAVE YOU EVER EATEN A CHIP BUTTY?
- Yes (UK/Ireland) (40%, 12 votes)
- No (UK/Ireland) (0%, 0 votes)
- Yes (Rest of World) (16%, 5 votes)
- No (Rest of World) (43%, 13 votes)
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Sue Briccay
in reply to Nick • • •sodslawyer
in reply to Nick • • •Beverley reshared this.
Chris Mills
in reply to Nick • • •Big Vimto
in reply to Chris Mills • • •Would recommend, but it's possible that a lot of that is nostalgia
Chris Mills
in reply to Big Vimto • • •Big Vimto
in reply to Chris Mills • • •spanghero
in reply to Big Vimto • • •Tom Mangnall
in reply to Chris Mills • • •Jayflo
in reply to Tom Mangnall • •like this
Nick, Chris Mills and West Lawns⚡️ like this.
Nixanadoo and You too
in reply to Nick • • •Nick
in reply to Nixanadoo and You too • • •Nixanadoo and You too
in reply to Nick • • •Kim Possible
in reply to Nick • • •no, but I knew exactly what it was, since I watch a lot of UK content.
I will add crisps to a sandwich that has a soft filling, like tuna salad. It gives it that perfect mix of textures.
Nixanadoo and You too
in reply to Kim Possible • • •Simon Brooke
in reply to Nick • • •As a Scot, and now as an old man, I can proudly say:
1. The chip butty is a staple food of my nation;
2. A chip butty should only be served in a bap, never with sliced bread;
3. I have not ever eaten, and will not ever eat, a chip butty. Eeeeew.
Puncha Not See
in reply to Nick • • •In California we do taters in a flour tortilla, soft-taco-style, with a smear of tart cream.
@Nickiquote
Steve Gisselbrecht
in reply to Puncha Not See • • •@Weirding_Is_Real
Oh, yeah, and there are fries (sorry, sorry, "chips") in French tacos*, too.
*French tacos are not tacos, although they are called that in French. Meat (originally donair), cheese sauce, and chips wrapped in a flour tortilla like a burrito, then press-grilled like panini.
Sarah W
in reply to Steve Gisselbrecht • • •Nixanadoo and You too
in reply to Steve Gisselbrecht • • •Alfred Chow - Maker of Things
in reply to Nick • • •Yup, I have had many a chip butty, made with proper chips from a proper chippie, back when I was still eating gluten.
But, have you ever had a #ChipLoaf
cupoftea.social/@Maker_of_Thin…
Alfred Chow - Maker of Things
2026-04-24 13:51:13
Mike Roberts
in reply to Nick • • •Sarah W
in reply to Mike Roberts • • •I'd argue this is one time where sliced white bread is actually recommended. It has just the right softness and folding consistency to make the perfect chip butty
#chipbutty
Mike Roberts
in reply to Mike Roberts • • •jz.tusk
in reply to Mike Roberts • • •I (USAian) have read previously of the vast fleet of differing words you UKers use to name what we call a "bun". Glad to see the spirit lives on.
Mark Burton
in reply to Mike Roberts • • •North Manchester: muffins.
South Manchester: barm cakes
Probably the Mercia/Northumbria border.
Boundary a bit blurred these days.
Mike Roberts
in reply to Mark Burton • • •For those interested ... I did a spot of searching last night and there is an unexpected amount of research on who calls a "bun" what and where across the UK... Including regional distribution maps. People have put an impressive amount of work in to this...
stephenliddell.co.uk/2022/08/0…
yougov.com/en-gb/articles/2120…
bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240…
bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3…
Apologies if BBC articles are geo-blocked
A roll? A cob? A barm? What do you call yours? - BBC Bitesize
BBC BitesizeMark Burton
in reply to Mike Roberts • • •Both words, incidentally, sound like insulting terms for a silly person.
That muffin Trump is a real barm cake!
Son of a George
in reply to Nick • • •Sarah W
in reply to Son of a George • • •Why not?
Nick
in reply to Sarah W • • •Mark Burton
in reply to Nick • • •The food arrived, white sliced bread, margarine and a mountain of chips, with 'sauces' of course. Chip butties!
It freaked the southerners a bit.
Dan Hatton
in reply to Mark Burton • • •Look, I'm a southerner from a long line of southerners - seriously, my ancestors have been in Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Suffolk ever since Thomas Cromwell first told the vicars to write down who they'd baptised - and I've been familiar with the chip butty from very early childhood. Can we stop with these claims of northern ownership of the concept, please?
Mark Burton
in reply to Dan Hatton • • •It's also a class division.
Dan Hatton
in reply to Mark Burton • • •@markhburton
The thought had occurred to me.
(Recalling one of my friends from my undergrad days, who went to a rather high-rent (northern) private school, telling me the chip butties in his school canteen were disgusting, and me speculating that this was a deliberate attempt by the school leadership to get pupils to develop a lifelong, class-appropriate aversion to that particular delicacy.)
Véronique Vitry
in reply to Nick • • •not like that but we in Belgium have the "mitraillette" which is half a baguette filled with your choice of friterie meat (think weird sausage, kebab, pitta meat, hamburger meat, ...) and fries, topped of course with your choice of sauce.
Mark Burton
in reply to Véronique Vitry • • •And those are real chips, not silly 'French fries'!
Jayflo likes this.
Véronique Vitry
in reply to Mark Burton • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to Nick • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •OMG a butter roll now costs 1 dollar. It was always 30 cents for years then they went to 50 cents and it was like that last year.
But now you need a whole dollar for a butter sandwich.
Nick
in reply to Nick • • •Just as an aside, in Scotland when you sit in at a chip shop you can order a “fish tea”. This is fish, chips, a pot of tea and buttered bread, essentially inviting you to make chip butties.
outlandish-spirits.blogspot.co…
What the Hell is Fish Tea?
outlandish-spirits.blogspot.comBeverley reshared this.
Ciara
in reply to Nick • • •Nick
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to Nick • • •Nick
in reply to Nick • • •I’m concerned that you might be running out of chip shop related matters to argue about, so here’s an article about Irish chip shop delicacies.
rte.ie/lifestyle/food/2025/092…
emergencydoc
in reply to Nick • • •How about chip shop movies rankings? I’ll start by nominating The Van
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Van_…
The Van (1996 film) - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Bob Thomson
in reply to Nick • • •ʙᴇɴ ᴄᴏᴛᴛᴇяɪʟʟ
in reply to Nick • • •- Butty? (100%, 5 votes)
- Bap? (0%, 0 votes)
- Cob? (0%, 0 votes)
5 voters. Poll end: 1 week agoFlippin' 'eck, Tucker!
in reply to ʙᴇɴ ᴄᴏᴛᴛᴇяɪʟʟ • • •Paul 💙 28 💔 💚
in reply to Flippin' 'eck, Tucker! • • •Chips in a buttered soft bread roll... Chip barm
Velocipede Rider
in reply to Nick • • •What are the counties representing
1. Where I and from?
2. Where I live?
3. Where I ate said butty (if I ate one)?
FWIW I have lived significant parts of my life in multiple countries and also have more than one nationality.
Velocipede Rider
in reply to Velocipede Rider • • •NormanDunbar
in reply to Nick • • •Sue Briccay
in reply to NormanDunbar • • •@NormanDunbar
Respectfully I beg to differ.
In t' north of England, commonly, it can mean either. 😉
@Nickiquote
Shelly
in reply to Sue Briccay • • •NormanDunbar
in reply to Sue Briccay • • •@essjayjay I respect your respectful disagreement, but a butties (or barm for some) is a bun! A sandwich is the bread option.
Just because people in some places called them the same names, doesn't make it right!
😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon
in reply to NormanDunbar • • •A barm is a bun, a buttie is buttered bread, not buttered roll!
NormanDunbar
in reply to Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon • • •Sue Briccay
in reply to NormanDunbar • • •@NormanDunbar
It can be either or any of those.
FTR, I had a chip buttie for my tea this evening, (that's your evening meal where I come from).
BTW, by a bap / barm / roll, I s'pose you're talking about a bread cake here? 😂
@Thebratdragon @Nickiquote
NormanDunbar
in reply to Sue Briccay • • •Sue Briccay
in reply to NormanDunbar • • •@NormanDunbar
Never, in all my time in the north of England, have I heard anyone refer to a portion of chips between two * buttered * slices of bread as " a chip sandwich". 🤦♀️
But then I have never moved in posh circles.
@Nickiquote
NormanDunbar
in reply to Sue Briccay • • •Jayflo
Unknown parent • •like this
Big Vimto, Nick and Chris Mills like this.
GoBlen
in reply to Nick • • •Patrick Hadfield
in reply to GoBlen • • •GoBlen
in reply to Patrick Hadfield • • •Chip butties are like art. They are whatever you want them to be.
Kierkethumbs up convincingly
in reply to GoBlen • • •Paul Martin
in reply to Kierkethumbs up convincingly • • •Kierkethumbs up convincingly
in reply to Paul Martin • • •Paul Martin
in reply to Kierkethumbs up convincingly • • •