Mr Chips
37A Telford Street
Inverness IV3 5LD
Mr Rice
37 Telford Street
Inverness IV3 5LD
When I found this on Google Street View, I shouted for Mr Tweets immediately to check my eyes weren’t deceiving me! Mr Tweets says they aren’t!
Isn’t this extraordinary?
The thing is that Mr Rice and Mr Chips are listed as separate establishments in local directories. So I was doing my usual online research – all rather humdrum – when I came across Mr Rice and thought I would go and look for him on Street View. I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary – on the face of it, Mr Rice doesn’t sound like a very exciting find.
How wrong I was.* It turns out that the town of Inverness is home to a remarkable coupling of Mr establishments, which ought to be something of a tourist attraction.
I’m not sure whether to think of them as a co-habiting couple, good friends, amicable business associates, or perhaps bitter rivals fighting over the same patch.
From the signage, it is clear that Mr Chips is winning the branding battle. I’m surprised Mr Rice has tolerated the cartoon ‘chip’ character explicitly beckoning customers away from Mr Rice and towards his potato-based neighbour.
Mr Chips also appears to have commissioned his own ‘chips’ typeface, in which the letters of his logotype are made up of chips. In stark contrast, Mr Rice opts for a plain-looking, white typeface, which I suppose is appropriate for a rice-based business.
Perhaps Mr Rice doesn't feel the need to promote his brand too actively as he has chairs in his establishment, whereas Mr Chips does not. Mr Rice also seems to enjoy easier wheelchair access.
I notice the establishments share the same chequered flooring, which suggests joint ownership of some sort. Judging by various reviews on the Qype website, it appears this is a Chinese chip shop**, which adds to my impression that Mr Chips and Mr Rice ultimately report to the same proprietor.
Anyway, that was a good blog post, wasn't it?
B.O.G.O.F.*** week concludes tomorrow.
* Wrong is too strong a word. My expectations were reasonable. But it is in the nature of expectations that they are sometimes confounded, and this is not necessarily the fault of the person doing the expecting – it is just the natural order of things.
** In my experience, the Chinese make very good chips.
*** Blog One Get One Free
An excellent 2-4-1 post there Mr Blog, thanks.
Splendid culinary comment too. As a child, "Chinese chips" were a highlight of our occasional(and much anticipated) family trips to the local takeaway.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Johnny | January 13, 2011 at 03:28 PM