Take away this temptation?

Published: 18 June 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

IT’S 3.20pm on Monday afternoon and Paddington Fish Bar is deserted. 

An unremarkable place, it’s the sort of takeaway that pockmarks greyer parts of London; a poor relation to the high street chains that are insulated from hard times by their advertising budgets and World Cup tie-ins.

Just as you’re wondering how it survives, with not even a lunchtime crawl to speak of, the answer reveals itself in a stampede of school blazers that would send Jamie Oliver into a catatonic state.

In 10 minutes, more than 40 pupils from nearby Paddington Academy are crammed up against the counter. The plat (or more accurately, cardboard box) du jour is something called a “P4” – four chicken wings, chips and a large fizzy drink for £2.

It hasn’t been submitted to the lab but it’s probably safe to say it wouldn’t win any nutrition awards. 

Recent London-wide research by environmental health officers on behalf of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) found some takeaway meals contained more than one-and-a-half times more salt and three times more saturated fat than an adult’s recommendation for a day.

“We know it’s not good for us, but we don’t care,” says Mohammed Osman, 14, a typical response to the charge it might be doing them some damage. 

The Fish Bar on Marylands Road is so popular the youngsters have made up a rap song about it – a paean to the P4.

Last week the West End Extra reported how Westminster’s Director of Public Health, Dr Margaret Guy, had warned that child obesity had reached an “epidemic” in the borough. More than one in four 11-year-olds is now so fat they are putting their health at risk, and the number is set to double in the next 20 years. It has led to urgent calls for Westminster to follow the example of Waltham Forest and tighten planning regulations to ban more takeaways opening near schools. 

But it seems likely that all the “healthy schools” certificates (of which there are 41 in the ­borough’s 54 schools), balanced menus and well- intentioned cooking classes for parents in the world won’t stop these kids outside the school gates.

“We’re here every day, five days a week,” said Mousa Issa, 14. “This place wouldn’t be in business if it wasn’t for us. Why else do you think they opened? 

“They’re making bare money from us. If they shut down we will just go to Chicken Cottage [a new outlet due to open next week after obtaining planning permission from the council].”

And if you thought it was just an aberration, a 20-minute walk down the Harrow Road past dozens more fried chicken and kebab shops to Westminster Academy proves otherwise. 

Directly opposite the multi-million-pound school, with its all-weather pitches and soon-to-open Parkour centre, is the Warsi Fish Bar. Unsurprisingly, its brisk trade doesn’t worry the loyal customers.

“My mum is always at work and never has time to cook,” says Westminster Academy student, Chantelle, 13. 

“So literally all day long I’m eating junk food and takeaways. Schools don’t really do healthy food and it’s never filling. After school I end up just coming to the chip shop.” 

If the children are the unwitting victims and the schools are fighting a noble if unwinnable battle, the people who run these takeaways welcome the trade.

Suleyman Okur, manager at Paddington Fish Bar, said: “It’s difficult for us. The kids help business. I’ve been here three years and every day at 3.30pm it’s packed. Obviously it’s not good for children to eat chips every day, but I buy fresh food every day. 

“I don’t think it’s our responsibility. We are just a small family business. There are more than 10 chip shops on a tiny stretch of the Harrow Road.” 

Mr Okur dismisses the suggestion that he would not be there if it wasn’t for the school.

So that just leaves the council. 

It looks like City Hall won’t be the authoritarian puritans some people want them to be. Last week officials said implementing a ban on fast-food outlets near schools was “impractical” in Westminster. Councillor Nickie Aiken, who is in charge of the council’s children’s department, said health and wellbeing is “promoted in all aspects of school life,” in Westminster. 

The West End Extra contacted all nine secondary schools in the borough to ask for a sample lunch menu. 

Only Pimlico Academy responded. 

Apart from fish and chips on Friday, there was no offer of anything close to being un­heal­thy – beef lasagne, poached salmon and sweet and sour chicken, were among the dishes.

Cllr Aiken went on to say parents should take more responsibility for their children’s health. 

“Parents and carers, however, also have a major part to play in tackling this issue,” she added. “By taking steps such as encouraging their children to walk to school, to eat healthily or stop using buggies on short trips at the age of three, they can help ensure their children lead an active life.”

• Additional reporting by Shaima Al-Obaidi