The biggest food awareness day of the year, National Fish and Chip Day, is back for its 7th year. 

A week before the nation prepares for a special four-day Bank Holiday to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the country will come together to celebrate fish and chips.

We spoke to the owner of the best-rated fish and chip shop in Bradford to find out what he thinks of the special day.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Mark Drummond has owned Towngate Fisheries since 1997Mark Drummond has owned Towngate Fisheries since 1997

Mark Drummond has owned Towngate Fisheries in Idle since 1997.

It is currently ranked as the best fish and chip shop in Bradford on TripAdvisor and has received hundreds of positive reviews.

He said: “I think it’s great to celebrate this day. It’s a celebration of a meal that is uniquely British and to have it a week before the Queen’s Jubilee is good as then we get two great British weekends.


“What’s better than to celebrate it in Bradford and Leeds where we have, in my opinion, some of the best quality fish and chip shops in the country.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Inside Towngate FisheriesInside Towngate Fisheries
 
Mark spoke about why he thinks his shop is ranked at the top.

“We use the best quality haddock, potatoes and state-of-the-art fryers. It’s all the little things that all add up.”

“Everyone’s got their favourite fish and chip shop and people like the chip shop that they personally go to, and that’s fine and it’s just wonderful that there are so many high-quality fish and chip shops in and around Bradford.

If we’re the top in Bradford, you know we’re the top at our game,” he said. 

Other top chip shops in Bradford

  • Baildon Fisheries
  • Mother Hubbard's (Leeds Road)
  • Parade Fisheries
  • Jack's Fisheries
  • Claremont Fisheries

However, Mark added that the rising cost of living is affecting the industry, and when his fixed price energy plan ends, his costs could treble.

“These have definitely been the hardest times the business has seen since we opened. Luckily, because we’ve been here for such a long time, we’ve been able to afford to reduce our profit margins a bit.
 
“But the costs of haddock have more than doubled, the beef dripping for our chips also more than doubled and the packaging has risen by nearly 50%.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Food being cooked at Towngate Fisheries Food being cooked at Towngate Fisheries
 
Other fish and chip shops in our district have told us of their struggles due to the rising costs.

Andrew Webster, Owner of Webster's fish and chips - which has several shops across the district said: “I’ve started turning the pans off in the afternoons to save gas to reduce costs.”

And Queensbury Fisheries even had to close its doors because it wasn’t profitable to keep running.

National Fish and Chip shop day is championed by trade organisation, The National Edible Oil Distributors Association (NEODA), which presents all the major refiners, key packers and distributors of edible oils as well as suppliers of non-oil products (such as batter mix, sausages, range manufacturers and potato preservatives) in the UK.