Forget jellied eels or pie and mash - the taste of Yorkshire's most famous fish and chips will greet Bradford folk travelling south to celebrate the new Millennium.

Thanks to Guiseley-based Harry Ramsden's, millions of visitors to the Millennium Dome will have a chance to tuck into traditional Yorkshire fish and chips.

And bosses at the world-famous chain are celebrating after getting the nod to have their battered delights served in the multi-million pound Dome.

Dome operator the New Millennium Experience Company has announced that the fish and chip giant will take its "plaice" in the dome alongside several other companies.

It will be a far cry from the original Harry's, set up in a wooden hut in White Cross, Guiseley.

Harry Ramsden's finance director Richard Taylor said: "It's great news and the Millennium Dome without Harry Ramsden's would have been like fish without chips.

"To have a Dome without fish and chips would be wrong because it's representative of what people externally see as being quintessentially British.

"Fish and chips is Britain's favourite fast food and just as McDonald's is there for burgers, Harry Ramsden's is there for fish and chips.''

For Ramsden's the Millennium Dome experience will not be its first departure from traditionally-placed restaurants.

The company - which was founded by Harry Ramsden in 1928 and now has more than 30 branches throughout the world - already has a presence at several UK airports and franchised outlets at two motorway service areas. And last year the Telegraph & Argus reported how it was joining forces with Butlin's to sell fish and chips at several holiday camps from later this year.

Though the Dome was the brainchild of the old Conservative Government, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair has embraced the project as a flagship for Britain in the 21st century.

Mr Taylor said: "The Dome's certainly an unusual opportunity because at the moment they're not planning to have it there forever.

"Harry himself was always someone who seized opportunities when they arose - there's nothing else like the Dome in the world and I think he'd be delighted that the company has moved from Guiseley to be at the forefront of what Britain is offering.''

Mr Taylor said its fast-food outlet would be run on a franchise basis and operated by Granada, with whom the company had been negotiating for several months.

Covering 2,000-3,000 square feet, the outlet would probably employ between ten and 20 people, he added. Other companies with outlets at the £758 million dome at Greenwich in south-east London will include McDonalds, Granada Food Services, Bakers Oven and American Bagel.

The New Covent Garden Soup Company, Indian catering group Cafe Veeraswamy, the Internet Exchange Cyber Cafe and Whitbread's Costa Coffee will also be there.

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