Fish and chips is a popular British family meal, equally enjoyed at the table on a Friday night or from the newspaper on an often cloudy beach.
But new figures show the fried delicacy has seen the biggest price rise at some of Britain’s most popular takeaway restaurants.
The average price of a portion of fish and chips rose by more than 50 percent to almost £10 in the five years to July – while the cost of a kebab rose by 44 percent and pizza by 30 percent.
Chip shop owners speak of a “perfect storm of costs” in recent years, including skyrocketing energy bills, tariffs on seafood imports and extreme weather that have had a negative impact on potato crops.
This all means that a family of four won’t get much change for a £50 note after spending enough money on their tea and adding some mushy peas and cans of lemonade.
“I have never seen such pressure from cost increases,” said Jon Long of Long John’s Fish and Chips in Dorset.
Jon is the third generation of his family to work in the industry and his daughter Emma recently took over the management of the company.
He added: “I would like to believe we will see a fifth generation, but I’m not sure.”
Fish and chips have been a staple diet of British families for decades, so much so that supplies of these two ingredients were maintained throughout both world wars.
But according to Jon, fish and chip shops are being forced to raise their prices due to a combination of rising energy and labour costs, sanctions on Russian seafood due to the invasion of Ukraine and poor potato crops.
The average price of takeaway fish and chips was £9.88 in July this year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That’s a 52% increase from £6.48 in July 2019.
While the ONS points out that the figures are estimates, it suggests that the cost of a fish dish has increased by a greater percentage than that of pizza or an Indian or Chinese main course.
“We have experienced the perfect storm of events in terms of cost pressures,” Jon said.
“It’s not cheap food anymore. I think it’s still good value for money, but it’s become more expensive.”
In March 2022, the UK government announced a 35% tariff on Russian seafood imports in response to the invasion of Ukraine, at a time when food prices across the UK were rising at their highest levels in over a decade.
Recently, extreme weather conditions have affected the potato harvest.
Potato market expert Cedric Porter described the rise in potato prices as “dramatic”.
He added: “We have seen very high potato prices because there was a small harvest last year and there was a small harvest across Europe.”
According to the latest figures from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Agricultural Price Index (API), the prices received by UK farmers for potatoes have skyrocketed over the past two years.
Angela Cartwright, owner of the Kingfisher Fish Bar in Salford, previously told BBC Breakfast that potato prices were “extortionate”.
She said: “People think fish and chips is a cheap meal but it simply isn’t. People are willing to pay £15-£20 for a pizza but not for a portion of fish and chips.”
Jon said the current economic climate is the “toughest situation” he has experienced in his 30-plus years in the industry.
“More and more pubs, hotels, fish and chip shops, bakeries and other businesses are having to close because of crippling costs,” he said.
‘Outrageous’
For Jon, energy costs remain the biggest challenge, particularly standing charges, which are a fixed daily fee paid to energy suppliers for connection to the grid, regardless of how much gas or electricity a business uses.
He said the amount by which these charges had increased since 2021 was “outrageous”, adding that energy regulator Ofgem had failed to protect small businesses from the increases.
A spokesman for Ofgem said it had introduced new rules to ensure fairer treatment for businesses, more support in resolving disputes and greater transparency in the fees charged by energy brokers.
They added: “We know that high energy bills continue to be a challenge for many businesses. We are working closely with government and industry to understand the range of issues facing commercial customers and to see where we could have stronger powers to address these issues.”
The government said it was right to impose tariffs on imports of Russian fish as well as on other exports from the country.
In a statement, it said that local food stalls were “essential for thriving, vibrant communities” and that appropriate support would be developed, including through a reform of the trade tax.
