{"id":507429,"date":"2026-04-01T17:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507429\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T17:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:13:12","slug":"brilliant-fish-and-chips-sculpture-unveiled-at-the-hoe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507429\/","title":{"rendered":"Brilliant fish and chips sculpture unveiled at the Hoe"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s the fifth one based on Beryl Cook’s work<\/p>\n

Alison Stephenson Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n

10:14, 01 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Hips-and-Chips-<\/p>\n

Hips-and-Chips- sculpture on Plymouth Hoe(Image: The Box)<\/p>\n

A new life-sized sculpture inspired by Plymouth artist Beryl Cook\u2019s much-loved painting Hips and Chips has been unveiled near the Belvedere on Plymouth Hoe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The piece of art, created by the team at Theatre Royal\u2019s TR2 production centre, joins four existing sculptures that were installed across Plymouth\u2019s city centre and waterfront in late January to coincide with the opening of The Box\u2019s popular Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy exhibition which runs until the end of May.<\/p>\n

Beryl\u2019s Hips and Chips painting dates from the 1970s and is a characteristically humorous everyday scene with two women and a man dressed in shades of blue tucking into boxes of fish and chips and giving the infamous Beryl Cook \u2018side eye\u2019 to a wide hipped lady dressed in red and white as she unashamedly walks past them.<\/p>\n

The two new figures have been funded by the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership.<\/p>\n

Sculptures can also be seen outside The Dolphin pub on Southside Street, The Barbican<\/a>; near the bowling green on the Hoe; next to the entrance to the garden of the Bank pub in the city centre and by the Frankfort Gate entrance to Plymouth Market and form part of a Beryl Cook trail around town.<\/p>\n

They and the exhibition mark 100 years since the artist was born and have been enjoyed by thousands of visitors so far.<\/p>\n

Plymouth Waterfront Partnership CEO and Plymouth Waterfront manager Sarah Gibson said: \u201cThis expanded collection strengthens Plymouth\u2019s reputation as a city that celebrates its cultural heritage whilst also creating engaging public art experiences, all to attract people into the area and spread some joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur two new additions have already begun to capture everyone\u2019s imaginations, and we can\u2019t wait to see more of the public\u2019s photos brightening up social media as they\u2019re out and about exploring our unique waterfront.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beryl Cook (1926-2008) lived and worked in Plymouth for over 40 years. Despite enormous public popularity, her work was often dismissed by critics. The Box\u2019s centenary exhibition aims to reposition her as an important chronicler of British life from the 1970s to 2000s, celebrating her radical representation of marginalized communities including drag queens, plus-size women, working-class people and LGBTQ+ nightlife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s the fifth one based on Beryl Cook’s work Alison Stephenson Local Democracy Reporter 10:14, 01 Apr 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,50953,174005,1120,96,174007,174008,153900,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-507429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-barbican","12":"tag-beryl-cook","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-plymouth-hoe","16":"tag-plymouth-market","17":"tag-theatre-royal","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}