Fears fish and chip shops could be wiped out as ‘best’ seaside town charges £15

Fears have been that traditional seaside chippie has had its chips – due to coastal towns becoming too posh and the soaring cost of raw ingredients.

Several popular seaside destinations are losing fish and chip shops at an “alarming rate” with locals saying they have begun to “outclass” themselves. While for many, a trip to the coast is not complete without tucking into the quintessential British comfort meal, figures show they are dwindling in popularity.

And locals in one traditional resort in Whitstable in Kent have now spoken out as it now has just ONE chippie remaining in its town centre. But its problems are not unique with recent stats showing that rising costs may cause over HALF of UK fish and chips to close by 2025.

In 1927, 35,000 fish and chip shops operated in the UK – now there are just 10,500 but vinegar firm Sarson’s warn there could be as little as 5,000 in the next few years. Roland Birks, who owns the Ship Centurion pub in Whitstable, said although the town was booming in popularity, the type of visitors it attracts over the years has changed.

“Whitstable has outclassed itself,” he added. “AirBnBs are killing the town as the properties are getting so expensive that locals have nowhere to live.

“And I think a lot of the tourists who come through Whitstable nowadays maybe prefer to go to the fancy restaurants rather than the chippies.”

Fish and chips also saw the largest increases in the year to March 2022 to March 2023 across fast food and takeaways, according to the ONS. The cost of fish and chip takeaways shot up by almost a fifth – at 19% – bringing the national average cost to £9.00.

The impact of these costs have already began to take effect in coastal towns throughout the UK. Chippy’s in Hastings have been forced to up their prices and Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire is home to the UK’s most expensive fish and chips, costing £14.73, according to a study by business credit card company Capital on Tap.

And in Whitstable, there is just one chippie left – Ossie’s Fish Bar – despite the town’s popularity among tourists ballooning over the past decade. Bold red lettering on a sign outside the former V.C. Jones in Harbour Street reads ‘FISH Luncheons & Suppers’.

But peer through the shopfront windows and you’ll see the empty shell of the much-loved establishment that served the town for more than 60 years. It closed in January as the owners retired. Whitstable Fish Bar, in the High Street, also looks increasingly derelict having shut in 2018.

Further afield, what used to be Mr Chips on Tower Lane is now a nail salon and Dean’s Plaice, off the Old Thanet Way, is also closed and widely rumoured to soon become a Starbucks. It leaves just Ossie’s in the high street in the heart of the town, but even as the family business has faced shrinking competition, its co-owner and namesake says the past few years have been particularly tough.

“Whitstable is busier than ever and people’s appetite for fish and chips hasn’t changed,” says Ossie Altun, 50. “But in the last few years, the cost of running a fish and chip shop has gone way up.”

Ossie says between the war in Ukraine and complications from Brexit, the price of potatoes, fish, the oil they’re fried in and the energy needed to run the kitchen has rocketed. Throw in the fallout from Covid lockdowns, and the cost-of-living crisis hoovering up households’ eating-out money, and Ossie and his brother and business partner, Ahmet Altun, 38, have been forced to cut their own paycheque.

“As much as it has all affected our costs, we have been trying to keep our prices for customers as reasonable as possible,” said Ahmet. “But at the same time we are using high-grade ingredients and that’s something we will not change, even if it could save us money. I think our quality is one of the reasons why we’re still here.”

But it’s not only the higher costs of ingredients that make production of the classic British dish a challenge. While other food industries have been able to save money through technological innovation, Ossie says the recipe relies on manual labour.

“The machines have become more power-efficient, but it doesn’t really matter – you still have to peel the potatoes, fillet the fish and fry the fish and chips by hand. Maybe in the future there’ll be robots doing more cooking, but we will never be doing that.

“Fish and chip shops are unique to other restaurants as we are making traditional food in a traditional method and that’s what people want.”