Fish & Chips back on the rise

July 28, 2015 Posted by David Linton

If there’s one food that we all associate with living the British lifestyle, surely it has to be a good old traditional portion of fish and chips from our favourite chippy.

For an industry that was hitting its peak during WW1 with 25,000 fish and chip shops nationwide and mobile chippies doing the countryside rounds to lift the spirits of evacuees during WW2, business has slowly been in decline since with only 10,500 chip shops now estimated to remain across Britain.

The cause is an the influx of fast food chains that first began arriving and marketing themselves in Britain from the 1960s onwards, negatively impacting on the customer numbers at many of our small independent chippies.

That’s not all. Such is the staple food tag that fish and chips has here, the dish now also makes it onto the menu in almost all of Britain’s pubs, again giving consumers a further option with where to enjoy a traditional British meal.

Strangely enough though, there has been a surge in new entrants to the industry in recent years, with many of the family-run businesses using the effects of the recent recession to tempt in customers with tasty value for their money.

Sustainability also plays a huge role and sees some chippies to go great lengths and distant waters to source particular fish at the height of its freshness.

New batter recipes and rules over portion control alongside this, mean that while the fish and chip market is perhaps more competitive now than it ever has been, its popularity is back on the rise to maintain the reputation of one of Britain’s best loved dishes.

For all the facts, figures, quotes from chip shop owners, and more information, you can read the full article by the National Federation of Fish Friers right here.

< Back to Blog