Chippy Lane, Chip Alley or Caroline Street. What do you call it?

A leading Welsh communications agency has sparked debate once more over the rightful name for Cardiff’s legendary chippy thoroughfare.

Working Word, a communications company based in the Welsh capital, has reopened one of the longest running debates in the history of the city with their provocative billboard ad.

As famous globally as Cardiff Castle and the River Taff, the number one late-night destination for a bag of chips, curry half and half or just a battered sausage to soak up the booze has been the subject of an ongoing conversation that has raged for decades – just what is the fast food Mecca best known as?

Of course, officially it appears on a map as Caroline Street, and for many that’s also what it’s best known as, but just as many more it’s also called Chippy Lane and Chip Alley.

Working Word managing director Dan Tyte said: “I’m a Splott boy. I’m proud of Cardiff. We can boast many things: more impressionist art than anywhere outside Paris. More movie studio space than anywhere outside London in the UK. More hours of sunshine a year than Milan (thanks 80s TV show ‘Why Don’t You?’ for that questionable fact’). That fastest growing capital city in Europe line we’ve all heard a million times. But really, nowhere else in the world will you find after hours dining quite like in Cardiff.

“It’s always made me laugh how entrenched people are in their name for the street. Language evolves. Things change. Younger people tend to call it Chippy Lane, whereas my 68 year old dad wouldn’t call it anything other than Caroline Street. And then some go for Chip Alley.

“When we had the opportunity to put some billboards around Cardiff, we wanted to say something that’d mean something to people and get them talking. We’re all about getting messaging straight for some of Wales and the UK’s biggest organisations so figured we’d have some fun.”

So what do you call it?

Let us know and maybe we can finally put this debate to bed once and for all!

So what do you call it?

— Nation.Cymru (@NationCymru) May 19, 2023

Cardiff: whatever you call it, we’ll get your message straight https://t.co/S8VoVvb8Hd pic.twitter.com/DzeV4VWInD

— Working Word (@WorkingWordPR) May 19, 2023