THERE is something fishy going on at a Macclesfield chippy.

The takeaway has been sent postcards from around the world with addresses so obscure they have left staff baffled as to how they have reached them.

Waters Green Fish Bar has been receiving the holiday messages for almost 20 years and the owner, known to customers as Tele, has noticed that the addresses have started to become increasingly vague.

Postcards from regular customers have been written to places including "The Chippy Down The Hill", "The Number One Chippy in Cheshire" and even "On The Hill, Near The Boozer", and have, somehow, always reached the right destination.

Tele, who real name is Anastasi, has started collecting the postcards which have arrived from countries including his native Cyprus, America, New Zealand, Dominican Republic and India.

One postcard from Bali was written to "The Best Chippy In The World, Macclesfield", and another from Indonesia reached the fish bar despite the simple address of "Tel, Macclesfield, UK".

Tele said: "A lot of people didn't believe they would get here at first, but now they just write anything on their cards.

"It's become a bit of a tradition here, with some people sending cards to us and not to their families.

"It has become a bit of a challenge for the postman as well because in the last few years about 50 per cent of them have had no real addresses on at all."

Tele started running the fish bar in 1984 and it was only a year later when the postcards began flooding in.

He has no idea exactly how many he has received, but there are enough to fill two large boxes and adorn one wall of the shop.

Several customers send postcards every year with more obscure addresses each time, including "A Chippy, Macclesfield", that was sent all the way from Australia.

Tele said: "One customer had a bet with his in-laws when they went to the Carribean that if they sent a postcard addressed to 'The Best Chip Shop' it would reach us, and it did."

He has his own idea how so many postcards with such obscure addresses keep on arriving at the takeaway.

"It's nice to think that they get here with just 'Best Chip Shop' written on them, and that's quite flattering because everybody has their own opinion," Tele said.

"I'll never ask people to stop sending them, no matter how many I end up with, because it shows what a loyal customer base we have."

He was also full of praise for the Royal Mail for making sure the postcards reach the shop, despite the obvious difficulty.

"We think the Royal Mail is great because all those postcards could just be thrown away, but they make a point of coming out and delivering them where they think they must be intended for," he said.