Every year, Seafish, a public body sponsored by four government fisheries departments, names the best fish and chip shops and the best fish and chip restaurants in the country and every year, with almost the same regularity, the Scots seem to take the top prizes.
This year is no exception. When the 2013 awards were announced at the end of January, the national winner for the Best Independent Take-away Fish and Chip Shop was named as The Bay on the Promenade in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire (home also, by the way, of the famous Stonehaven Fire Balls). Runners-up in this category were 2nd place winner Simpsons Fish & Chips in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and 3rd place Hanbury's in Babbacombe, Torquay, Devon on the English Riviera.
In the restaurant category - for those who prefer their dinner on a plate rather than rolled in paper - the national winner in the restaurant category was Rockfish Seafood & Chips in Dartmouth, Devon. Poppies, in London's Spitalfields area, and the Quayside in Whitby, Yorkshire, were also finalists.
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