Here are the 20 best fish and chip shops in the UK - how many have you tried?

Fish and chips, as a meal, is in the top ten of them, of meals. You’ve got things like pizza, lasagne, ‘burgers and that’, curry, ‘cheese and biscuits’ and crisps - they’re all in the top ten, but fish and chips is well up near the top. Next to crisps, probably.

Thing is, you can get good fish and chips, and bad fish and chips - you’ve gotta have top-quality batter and nicely cooked chips to hit the F&C jackpot - which is why there’s an annual competition to find the best purveyor in the UK. And they (The National Fish & Chip Awards) have just released their shortlist of the 20 best chippies in the running for the top award, which will be decided in London in 2019 (as well as the top three, there’ll also be awards for the best in each region).

And here they are, should you suddenly realise that you’ve been living next to one unawares, all these years:

- Lows Traditional Fish and Chip Shop, Aberdeenshire
- The Fish Hoose, Fife
- Shillingfords, West Glamorgan
- The Crispy Cod, Rhondda Cynon Taf
- Dolphin Takeaway, County Tyrone
- Silverfin’s Traditional Fish & Chips, County Armagh
- Mister C’s, North Yorkshire
- Papa’s Fish and Chips, East Yorkshire
- Golden Carp Chippy, Worcestershire
- Winyates Chippy, Worcestershire
- Angel Lane Chippie, Cumbria
- Frydays of Kendal, Cumbria
- Frydales, Leicestershire
- Papa’s Fish and Chips, Lincolnshire
- Olley’s Fish Experience, Herne Hill, London
- Poppies Fish and Chips, Soho, London
- Captain’s Fish and Chips, Hertfordshire
- Sidney and Sons Fish and Chips, Hertfordshire
- Harbour Lights, Cornwall
- Krispies Fish and Chips, Devon

Marcus Coleman, Chief Executive Officer at organisers Seafish, said: 

“This flagship award category showcases the leading fish and chip businesses across the country. 

“There’s a tremendous amount of talent to be seen across the Top 20, and we wish them all the best in the next round of judging as we know how much this competition means to all of them.”

According to the website: “All aspects of a business are assessed and the judging process covers shop appearance, raw materials, storage facilities, preparation areas, equipment and utensils, staff training, staff presentation and customer service, practices and techniques, packaging, marketing activity, sustainability policies – and most importantly, the quality of the fish and chips.”

Weirdly, the most vital part of a fish and chip shop’s practice isn’t assessed: the portion size. If it weighs anything less than one metric tonne and will therefore not cause a week-long bout of bloating and IBS, then it’s a waste of time.

(Images: Getty)