A fish fryer turned millionaire is mourning the loss of a famous British export 12,000 miles from his Bradford home.

Businessman Bob Slicer, who founded National Breakdown in the 1970s - now Green Flag at Pudsey - has written to the Telegraph & Argus hailing the closure of Harry Ramsden's restaurant in Melbourne a "disaster".

The restaurant closed in December after the firm decided the branch was twice as large as it needed to be.

Mr Slicer, a one-time member of Bradford Council and president of Bradford Festival Choral Society, now divides his time between his ranch on the outskirts of Melbourne and his villa in Andorra.

As a former fish fryer himself, Mr Slicer reveals in his letter how he chipped in with words of advice when the restaurant first opened.

He said: "The first time that I visited I spoke to the manager and told him, in my opinion, that the chips were a little soggy and that the batter was a little on the thick side. They were frying both at too low a temperature."

However, he said that the Antipodeans heeded his words of wisdom and that fish and chips were soon on a par with their British counterparts.

A spokesman for Harry Ramsden's said: "We're glad that Mr Slicer enjoyed the authentic taste of Ramsden's fish and chips in Melbourne. He will soon be able to continue to enjoy them again in Australia when we open up new restaurants at the back end of this year."

The company says it intends to open a number of smaller branches although it has yet to decide on sites.

It already has outlets in Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur and Dublin.

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