Please ask yourself this question: "Do I think of having 'fish and chips' when I want a really nice meal?"
If the answer is, "probably not" then that may also be the answer to your question as to "what's up" with them.
Turning a sow's ear into a silk purse is difficult at best so I wouldn't blame myself for not liking the fare.

When serving beer, the temperature is the most important element. Ales should be served at 55?F, what the English call the 'cellar temperature.' Lagers are served colder-around 48?F. Colder temperatures diminish the taste. The more flavorful a beer is, the better it will taste when served at a warmer temperature. Clean, light ales do well closer to lager temperatures; darker, stronger ales should be served at temperature approaching 55?F. The richest ales - like stouts, barley wines, and strong ales - are best enjoyed near room temperature.

While the serving temperature of beer is a matter of personal taste, preference, and culture, beer served ice cold goes flat very quickly, and because the palate is numbed by the too-cold beer, much of the taste is lost. A frosted mug kills the flavor almost instantaneously.

British beers and ales are not properly served warm. They are served warmer than most Americans are used to, but by just a few degrees. The colder the beer, the less the carbonation resulting in less aroma and flavor.

To be honest, if you wish to try fish and chips, the best place to go is a fish and chips shop. Pubs usually don't do this great meal justice.

There's thousands of chip shops around, and l find fish and chips a nice meal, but only once in a while. You need to eat them with a wooden fork and plenty of salt and vinegar.

In my limited experience, on average the chippies haven't done any better job than the pubs with fish and chips.

I can't figgure out why a country that does so many schips, doesn't do them better.

Keith

Good post, Rufus.