UK’s top 10 fish and chip restaurants

THE UK’s top 10 fish and chip restaurants were announced today as part of the 2016 National Fish & Chip Awards, organised by Seafish.
To get to this shortlist, the restaurants have been appraised across a variety of judging criteria including responsible sourcing policies, restaurant appearance and facilities, staff training and development policies, marketing and promotional activity and how they cater for customers with specific dietary requirements.
They also received mystery shopping judging assessments by industry experts to ascertain the quality of the fish and chips on offer and the levels of customer service provided by staff.
Over the coming weeks, the restaurants will be subjected to further mystery judging evaluations and in-depth judging audits.
This next stage of the competition will whittle down the top 10 to establish the UK top five restaurants that will compete for the top accolade at the 2016 awards ceremony, to be held at the Lancaster London Hotel on January 20.
The 10 shops are: Chesters in Chesterfield, Derbyshire; Drakes Fisheries in York, North Yorkshire; Fylde Fish Bar in Southport, Merseyside; Hanbury’s Famous Fish and Chips in Torquay, Devon; No 1 Cromer in Cromer, Norfolk; Papa’s Fish and Chips in Willerby, East Yorkshire; Something Else Fishy in Milborne Port, Somerset; the Scallop Shell in Bath, Somerset; Trenchers Restaurant in Whitby, North Yorkshire and the Tailend Restaurant in St Andrews, Fife.
Award sponsor David Lovell, business director of Goldensheaf, said: ‘With a heritage of over 60 years as the UK’s leading batter mix, we can identify with the importance of being recognised as a quality performer within the industry.
‘This award category rewards those businesses that provide an outstanding fish and chip dining experience for their customers while continually striving to improve the standards in their business as a whole.
‘We congratulate the 10 restaurants in reaching this tough stage of the competition and wish them good luck in the next round of judging.’
 
Paul Williams (pictured), chief executive of Seafish, said: ‘The aim of the National Fish & Chip Awards has always been to showcase the very best fish and chip businesses and individuals in the UK while setting incredibly high standards for the industry to aspire to.’