England's beloved dish, fish and chips, has become an expensive affair. Once an affordable comfort meal for Britons, it is now a luxury purchase for many households. In the UK, the cost of fish and chips has nearly doubled in seven years. Amid the sharp price rise, shop owners are planning to install self-service tills to protect staff from customers with abrupt questions.
A steep climb in price
UK shoppers now face a significant financial burden at the chippy counter, according to the latest data. In March this year, customers paid an average of £11.17 for fish and chips, up from £10.28 a year earlier, according to ONS data. Prices have risen sharply since 2019, when the average was £6.48, driven by soaring costs for cod.
The cost of haddock and cod has surged dramatically amid the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Prices for fresh and chilled cod, haddock, hake and pollock have risen by 22%, from £21.06 last year to £25.73 this year. In March, shop owners stated that a 45lb (20kg) box of cod jumped from £110 in December 2024 to £330 in March, a 200% increase. Since the start of the war in Iran, energy costs have also surged, with oil prices hitting their highest level since 2022 by the end of April.
Shopkeepers have previously warned that people's mindset is going to have to change as chippies turn to cheaper alternatives to cod and haddock to stay afloat. Andrew Arnold, who runs Railway Street Fisheries in Pocklington, near York, believes customers will begin to see more alternatives, including Norwegian pollock, on the menu. The traditional fish and chip shop is going to go if we don't diversify and do different things, he told the BBC. I can sell pollock at £10.50 and still make a reasonable profit on it.
Chippy counters to install self-service tills
Fish and chips were once an affordable meal, a go-to dish you could eat straight from paper on a breezy day at the beach, or enjoy at the dinner table with loved ones on a Friday night. However, the sharp rise in prices has taken away some of that joy, with many customers enquiring about it. Rhys McLoughlin, co-owner of Môr Ffres in Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire, is planning to install self-service tills at his chippy to protect staff from abrupt questions. He told the BBC that there were lots of questions being asked and he did not think people understood that incoming prices are going up and up.
We have no control over that, so either we work for no money or we follow the price increase and, unfortunately, we have to pass it on, he told the broadcaster. Talking about the pressure staff face amid the price surge, he said: With prices, there's a lot of questioning. We have young staff working here and, at the end of the day, sometimes this is their first place of work, their first stepping stone out of school. It's no fun for a boy or girl to come to work and be asked, not abused, but asked fairly abrupt questions on the spot with 20 people in the chip shop. We have actually lost a few members of staff because of that.
McLoughlin also expressed concern about the future. If these prices continue to go up, who's going to buy fish and chips for £21? Who can afford that?
