Blue Collar Corner has reopened for 2025, and with it comes Gurt Wings. The chicken street food firm has taken up a permanent residency in one of the shacks dotted around the Hosier Street venue.
Gurt Wings menu includes chicken wings or strips with a choice of sauces including Gurt Buffalo, Gurt Ranch, Gurt Mango Habanero, and the super hot Gurt Locker, a collaboration with Tubby Tom’s which features scorpion and ghost chillies.
Also on offer are Popcorn Chicken Japanese karage-style chicken thigh pieces, its Tater Tots, and Squeaky Cheese Stix with sauces.
Gurt Wings owner ‘Gurty’ couldn’t be happier about the return: “We’re super excited,” he says.
It is the first of three permanent locations for the company which launched from his kitchen table. Later this year, they will be opening in Bristol and a third location.
“It’s top secret, I’m not allowed to say at the moment,” Gurty says mysteriously.
But for now, “We’re super happy to be back in Reading, we’ve got a big following here, with a lot of love over the years from trading at Market Place to getting a food truck and then coming into Blue Collar Corner.
“We feel like we’re back home again, it’s really good.”
READ MORE: Blue Collar gives you wings … Gurt Wings delighted to sign up for residency ahead of 2025 reopening
The shack was set up in just seven days with the building team working flat out – in cold weather – to get the kitchen set up. And the shack may be small, but it is perfectly formed allowing the team to take orders, cook on demand and serve everything freshly.
“It feels like a proper home for us,” Gurty says. “It’s all really nice. We’ve settled in there and got new staff – they are all local people. It’s great.”
Gurt Wings humble beginnings around the kitchen table
Gurt Wings started because Gurty couldn’t find wings like he used to enjoy on his visits to the United States.
“I got a love for fried chicken through going to the US loads, coming back here and creating my own recipes in my garage at home helped launch us from a hobby into something that is now a big business,” Gurty says.
But the experimentation wasn’t all sweetness and light … Mrs Gurty got fed up of the kitchen in the family home being turned into a laboratory for fried chicken. He was kicked out and sent to the garage where, like a true mad scientist, he perfected his recipe through experiment after experiment.
The final result was good enough for them to give up their day jobs to launch the new business.
“It was a huge risk to take this on full-time,” he recalls. “To get to where we are now is really good and (our success) is thanks to all of our loyal customers and friends who have helped us.
“Ben, my business partner, has invested in us massively… lots of people have all made it happen, as well as a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears.”
And his message to Reading?
“Thank you for all your loyal support. We’re back here in Reading and we look forward to serving you some of our fried chicken over the next few years.”
Blue Collar Corner owner Glen Dinning is equally pleased to welcome Gurt Wings back on a permanent basis.
“It’s really exciting,” he says. “We’ve started the year really strong with Gurt Wings. They are probably one of the most influential and most popular traders we’ve had in the nine years we’ve been going.”
What is a Gurt Wings meal like?
We tried a large Strips Meal with the peanut satay sauce (£13.50) and a large Cheese Stix with Gurt Buffalo and Ranch sauce and Tater Tots (£8.50). Our meal came to £22.
It is possible to order chicken on its own: six wings or four strips are £8.50 each, 12 wings £14.50, and eight strips £15.50. Combo boxes offer the chance to enjoy strips and wings for £15.75: the Chicken Combo is three strips, three wings and Tater Tots, while the Full Combo is two strips, two wings, and two Cheese Stix plus Tater Tots.
Other meal deals are available.
Once you’ve selected your chicken, you then choose your sauce. Our Peanut Satay is sprinkled with desiccated coconut, dried chilli flakes and crushed peanuts and comes with a wedge of lime. It’s delicious and Moorish.
The Tater Tots are hard to describe. They are a kind of mini hash brown but with the fluffiness of mashed potato. They are great for dipping into the sauce to ensure nothing is wasted.
The Cheese Stix are about an inch thick and the length of a fish finger. The cheese has melted nicely but not too much so it has a satisfying texture. The Ranch sauce dripped off nicely creating a bit of a mess – thank goodness for the napkins.
It took around 15 minutes from ordering to being able to collect our meal, as it was a busy period when we ordered – everything was made fresh to order, and you could tell. It was hot, the chicken moist and the presentation was amazing.
The two boxes were stuffed with food, and there was more than enough for three of us to share.
A work of art in chicken form, and a worthy addition to Blue Collar Corner.
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