Owner Of Chippy Boycotted Over Name Refuses To Change It

The owner of a fish and chip shop in London is refusing to change its name despite a boycott.

Recep Turhan opened Jack the Chipper in Greenwich following the success of his original Jack the Chipper in the East End area of Whitechapel - where notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper slayed his victims in 1888.

However, it seems the new eatery hasn't been well-received, with many people criticising the name.

In particular, some feel the moniker glamorises violence towards women, as The Ripper infamously killed at least five female prostitutes.

Despite this, Recep has no plans to rebrand.

The 52-year-old told This Morning: "I don't think we will change the name because this is the history 160 years ago. I'm using only play on words for the name and nothing else.

"Some people hate it, but some people love it. They stop in the traffic and say they like it."

Recep's son Cagri - who is the manager of the chippy - added: "We don't want to change the name. We don't want to disrespect anyone.

"We've already shown our respectfulness by offering 50 percent discount for women just to show we're not here to be disrespectful or damaging in any sense. We're just here to provide good food and a good service."

ITV/This Morning

Opening up about the backlash they've faced, Cagri continued: "It's quite bad at the moment - more online than anything else.

"The customers that we have inside the shop - when they come in they love the food and say our product and customer service is great.

"However, these specific people who are trying to boycott the shop itself try to always give us negative feedback and reviews online and try to damage the reputation of the business."

He added: "At the end of the day we've always said two things: we're here to provide good and fresh food for our customers and we're here to provide good customer service.

"The customers who actually come inside our shop always say, 'Ah yeah it's a play on words' and they've always loved our food and the friendly atmosphere that we bring to our customers."

In keeping with what the Turhans have experienced first hand, the response on social media after they appeared on This Morning was also mixed.

One person wrote: "How is this chip shop only 'glorifying' Jack the Ripper when there's tours and movies about him? The people boycotting this place are beyond morons... leave the guys alone."

Another agreed: "I feel for Jack the Chipper! It's literally a play on words... so what about the Jack the Ripper tours who are directly making money from these awful murders?"

But another countered: "Let's be honest. It's a s*** name. It's a bad pun. They have no idea that Jack the Ripper was an evil piece of work in the 1800s."

Hopefully the Turhans don't lose too much sleep over it anyway; after all, the story will soon be tomorrow's chip paper.

Topics: Food, fish and chips, London

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey