Rhayader chip shop discovers original 1950s menu board

Powys County Times

31-05-2025

A STROLL to the chippy for Rhayader residents of a certain age may now seem like wondering down memory lane, after the owners uncovered the original menu board from when the shop first opened 75 years ago.
Evans Plaice marks being a fixture of Rhayader's high street for three quarters of a century this year, and is now being run by the third generation of the same family.
Located on North Street, Evans Plaice is a traditional fish 'n' chip shop that sells all the classics, as well as Celtic pies, homemade Pizzas, burgers and Southern Fried Chicken. It also now boasts an ice cream parlour, serving Mario's ice cream.
However, its roots can be traced back to 1950, when it opened as the Halton Fish Restaurant. And, to mark being open in town for 75 years in 2025, the original menu board has been found and is now on display in the shop
'We're proud to now have on display the original menu board from when the business first opened as Halton Restaurant 75 years ago,' read a post on the chip shop's Facebook page earlier this month.'
The old board screams nostalgia and has not been touched, with the original blue paint on the wood board flaking off.
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Back 75 years ago, customers could purchase many classics that still exist today, like cod or plaice, as well as sausage, chicken and steak and kidney pie.
Chips were originally labelled as 'chipped potatoes', and while the Halton Fish Restaurant originally offered chipped potatoes with some staples that still exist today, other original items have disappeared from traditional chippy menu boards – such as sausage or bacon with egg; just egg and chipped potatoes, or cold ham and chipped potatoes.
Cold ham and chips was the most expensive item on the menu in 1950, at just 39 pence – although in 2025 that equates to £17.08p.
The Rhayader shop did, surprisingly perhaps, have a steak burger on the menu back then, at 20p (£8.76p), the same price as cod or plaice. The cheapest thing on the main 1950s menu was egg and chips for 18p (£7.88p).
The Halton Restaurant also sold separate portions of peas and beans for 5p and 6p (£2.19p and £2.63p) respectively, as well as bread and butter for 4p (£1.75p).
Fruit salad, fruit sundae, peach melba and ice cream were all available back then on the sweets menu too, from between 7½p to 17p (£3.07p to £7.44p); while drinks sold were water, Coca Cola and tea or coffee, with Coke the most expensive at 7½p.
Somewhere along the way, the Halton Restaurant became Evans Plaice, and the chip shop is today owned by Andrew Lewis as part of the Croeso Grwp, a collection of family-run businesses which includes the Tŷ Morgans café, restaurant and bar, the Crown Inn and Lamb & Flag pubs, while it also re-opened Ty Penbont (the old Penbont House tea room) in the Elan Valley in late March/early April.
'The original shop was called Halton Fish Restaurant and opened by Megan and Edgar Evans,' said Evans Plaice.
'The business was then handed over to Andrew's aunty Eunice and uncle Lyn and then onto Andrew, as it is today, as the third generation of owner, marking 75 years in the same family and in the same building.'