Why I never considered that one day Sheffield's legendary Chubbys takeaway would be gone

Regardless, Chubbys was as much a part of the night as jostling for a place at the bar for drink or queuing for a club or impressing, or not, on the dance floor.

It has maintained a constant through the night, until this week when news broke that it is closing.

You never knew what you’d be doing on a night out, which pubs or clubs you would enter – but at the end of the night you knew Chubbys would feature.

Sometimes you would go in flush with cash and buy what you wanted, other nights would be a case of weighing up whether it would kebab and taxi or kebab and a long walk home. I myself frequented the ‘fast food’ establishment when busy felt like an age.

The numbered ticket system made sure you got your order, saving countless arguments and fights about ‘pushing in’.

In my lifetime of ‘going downtown’ cheeseburger and chips was my particular staple.

Ideally placed on Cambridge Street since 1980, thousands staggered through its doors in search of something cheap and tasty to finish the night … by which I mean food.

The menu was extensive from a multitude of kebabs to suit all tastes and wallet to a large selection of burgers, veggie included.

They all came in two sizes, large or small.

Large always had plenty leftover to go down your shirt and trousers, or dress, as a visual reminder of the night before, and that small would have been quite sufficient.

Everything was available with a side order of chips or salad for healthy eaters, plus plenty of drinks to wash it down … but no alcohol. There was even apple or cherry pie on offer for the sweet of tooth.

I have fond memories of myself and many of my contemporaries going into Chubbys from its conception in the 80s after a night out in the Crazy Daisy, Limit, Josephines or later Banus to name a few.

How many clubs and pubs over the years have been the penultimate destination before ‘hitting Chubbys for a kebab’?

We were once young and vibrant, and now heading towards our 60s it definitely sobers the mind in a way just like the large cheese burger and chips we tried to navigate down our throats and not our shirts before the taxi arrived. So many well established clubs and pubs were unable to outlast this right of passage eatery.

My friend Jane was deeply saddened to be informed of it closing last Thursday night as we called in after navigating our way from pub to pub starting off in Heeley.

We are all hoping it will reopen at another address but with the same name.

It is a name which would carry a lot of weight as a new place to catch a late night bite to eat.

You’d agree Sheffield has many iconic places past and present which stimulate the mind back to our youth.

For now, we have one still standing in our midst.

Nothing lasts forever as they say.

When walking through the Hole In the Road you would never have considered that one day it would be gone.

The things you take for granted as being there all the time can so easily disappear. If 2020 taught us anything change can be sprung upon us so so easily.