Is it Chippy Lane or Caroline Street?

Since Craig Bellamy was arrested in January 2011 for an alleged fracas that occured outside Eden Lounge on Caroline Street – the national press jumped on the story and began naming the street CHIPPY ALLEY! In the last ten years in Cardiff it seems that the original name of Caroline Street has been superceded by the term CHIPPY LANE but never Chippy Alley! (maybe Chip Alley at a push!)

I’m certain most people who have lived in Cardiff all their lives, have, and will continue to call the street CAROLINE STREET. It seems that Charlotte Church made the phrase CHIPPY LANE famous in the late 90’s when she was synonymous with being a bit drunk after a few ‘cheeky vimtos’ with Henson along with some other rugby players being (allegelly) involved in other fracas on the street aswell.

A search on Google Trends reveals data from the last few years showing how popular each term is on a worldwide basis on the internet. It seems that Caroline Street has been the most used term over a longer period with Chippy Lane only becoming more prevalent from 2008 and Chip Alley later in 2010. Click the image below for a larger view.

Over at The Cardiff City Online Forum debate has raged over what the street should be called and what each part of the population decides to name the street.

Even Wales Online got in on the debate and setup an online poll to gauge opinion aswell!

At the time of posting nearly 250 people have voted with the results being :-

CHIPPY LANE – 44%
CAROLINE STREET – 30%
CHIPPY ALLEY – 21%
OTHER – 5%

Click HERE to vote on the poll

A Facebook Group has also sprung up over Caroline Street’s name aswell – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2235099110&v=wall

So in conclusion it seems that people Cardiff born and Cardiff bred have, and will continue, to call the street Caroline Street, whereas students and people that have moved to the area seem more than happy to use the term CHIPPY LANE and sometimes CHIP ALLEY. It’s an easy way to gauge how Kaaardiff someone is when you bump into them over a chicken and curry off the bone from Dorothy ish Bar. (Have they replaced that missing F in the sign yet?)

And finally the Clearway Force have decided to pen a track about the happennings down Caroline Street in a track simply called ‘Chippy Lane’