An Aberdeenshire chipper renowned for inventing the deep fried Mars Bar has been told to remove a banner advertising the iconic dish.
Lorraine Watson, owner of the Carron Fish Bar in Stonehaven, has been asked to take down a sign outside the outlet proclaiming it as the “birthplace of the world famous deep-fried Mars bar”.
Aberdeenshire Council said the banner is detrimental to the town’s image and asked her “to consider” removing it.
But yesterday Mrs Watson said she had no intention of taking it down, pointing out it had been there for almost a decade without any complaints.
She added: “Basically on Friday the council sent me a letter saying they have had a walk about the town and were trying to address some of the issues of the signs that needed to be cleared up and asked for the banner on the front to be removed.
“From a business point of view that is a ridiculous request because tourists come here from all over the world and they purchase their deep fried Mars Bars.
“I think that is helping to promote tourism in Scotland. At this time of the year we’ll do anything between 150 to 200 of them a week and 99% of that is to tourists.
“I could understand if it was damaged or ripped or torn but it isn’t. I was offended, I was angry, and my first reaction was there is no way I am taking that banner down.
“It has been there since 2006 and prior to that there was another banner. The council should have better things to do.”
The council said the letter had been sent as part of its drive to “improve the look” of Stonehaven.
A spokeswoman said: “Together with a range of community organisations we have been looking at ways to improve the look of Stonehaven for the benefit of residents, businesses and visitors.
“An action plan has been created in conjunction with the Stonehaven Town Partnership, community council, Stonehaven Business Association and the Horizon Group.
“As part of the action plan we have asked some owners in the area to consider making alterations to their properties.
“This included asking the owners of The Carron Fish Bar to consider removing their banner.
“We do not wish to prevent the owners from promoting their business and we would be happy to have discussions with them regarding the banner.”
The origins of the deep fried Mars Bar
According to local folklore the deep fried Mars Bar was invented at the Carron Fish Bar – when it was called The Haven Fish Bar – 22 years ago.
The previous owner was asked to experiment with the chocolate bar by a group of local school kids – who enjoyed the results.
The invention went on to become synonymous with Scotland and is now cooked up in fish shops across the UK.
The Carron’s owner, Lorraine Watson, said: “It was just a couple of kids came in and just asked if they could get a deep fried Mars Bar.
“The next day the chip shop was inundated with local children wanting to try one.
“Now you have them all over the world in Dublin, in New Zealand, Australia, all over the place.”
Mrs Watson said no one could ever get a deep fried Mars Bar of the same quality cooking them at home – as only chip shops had fryers that could cook them at the required 177C.
In 2012, Mars wrote to the owners of The Carron seeking a disclaimer to distance itself from the product.
The firm said it was “against its commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles”.