Bid To Ban Fried Mars Bar Sign Battered

The chip shop that gave birth to the deep fried Mars bar has battered an attempt by a local council to stop it advertising its place in deep fried history.

The Carron Fish Bar at Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire lays claim to having served up the dubious delicacy for the first time ever in 1992.

A banner above the chip shop trumpets its claim to frying fame, but Aberdeenshire Council has requested that it be taken down on the grounds of taste.

Shop owner Lorraine Watson has flatly rejected the council move.

She told Sky News: "I would never consider it. The shop's status is iconic for the town and it's not doing anyone any harm - 99.9% of people buying the deep-fried Mars Bars are tourists who come from around the world. Why wouldn't you advertise it?

"At this time of year, we sell 150 - 200 deep-fried Mars Bars a week, so it's not a thing that's going away."

Aberdeenshire Council had contacted the chip shop, along with other shop owners in Stonehaven, as part of an effort to improve the appearance of the town centre. A council spokeswoman told Sky News that it was merely a request to take down the banner and, given the chip shop's objections, it won't now be pursued.

The Stonehaven chip shop became the first to serve up a deep-fried Mars Bar in 1992 when a group of schoolchildren came in with the bar consisting of chocolate, nougat and caramel and asked for it to be covered in batter and fried.

Since then, Scotland's deep-fried menu has grown to include pizza, haggis, fresh fruit, Cadbury's creme eggs... indeed, anything that will fit in a deep-fat frier.

It has, inevitably, prompted debate over the years surrounding its effects on a person's health. Chip shop owner Lorraine Watson says she gets as much bad publicity as she does good.

She says: "One professor phoned me saying he'd compared the effects of a deep-fried Mars Bar for breakfast compared to porridge and the results were alarming.

"I told him that's ridiculous... no-one's going to eat a deep-fried Mars Bar for breakfast. You're not going to be eating them in a daily basis and I wouldn't encourage anyone to do so.

"I'm a great believer that you can eat whatever you want as long as you do exercise."