Hot Spot saw customers from far and wide make a beeline for Billesley for a tasty cheap treat
20:32, 14 Jan 2026
Dozens of people queued in Billesley today to pick up a 20p cone of chips from the Birmingham 'uncle' keen to show them what the 'good old days' were like.
People lined up at the Yardley Wood Road shop to grab cones from Hot Spot, a restaurant that opened in 2004 and that has had a popularity boom on TikTok in recent months.
The creation of Nassar 'Uncle Nas' Iqbal, the deal was designed to give youngsters from nearby schools, as well as the entire community, a chance to try a 20p plain portion of chips loaded with salt and vinegar like 'kids did in the 80s'.
Read more: Birmingham fish and chip shop bringing back 20p chips 'like the good old days'
Hanifa Rice, 18, was at the front of the queue for 20p chips at Hot Spot after seeing the hype on TikTok. Arriving with a friend over an hour before the sale started, she said: "I saw it on TikTok and when I saw it was nearby I thought it'd just be funny to come around!"Asked whether she feels that chips are outdated now in a world of peri peri chicken and smashed burger options - something Uncle Nas suggested might be the case when we interviewed him yesterday - she added: "I love to go to the chippy with my friends, but really whether we go depends what my friends want to do!"
Hanifa met with Nas outside the shop who emerged from a big balloon arch to tell them: "I'm just like you, I just got on TikTok!"Birmingham's latest social media star showed BirminghamLive around his chip shop, which is pretty high tech with a self-service machine, a counter filled with colourful milkshake ingredients and an ice cream machine from Mr Tee, who is another famous TikTok creator.
Uncle Nas told BirminghamLive: "I'm a bit stressed but we should be OK. We bought quite a few extra potatoes. Our supplier is a good lad, Copes Potatoes, he's been supplying me for a couple of years and he does the best potatoes.
"I'm not making money today, I'm just bringing memories back. If you follow me on TikTok you'll see what the young people are saying. I'm just teaching the kids what it was like when we didn't have none of these fancy things.
"Back then fish was a very big luxury. But at lunchtimes, we would sneak out, go to the local, get some chips loaded with extra salt and vinegar. They didn't charge extra for that, so we asked for loads. Anything free!"