Cathy Dobbs: Friday night fish and chips is worth paying more for

What a fantastic Easter weekend – the sun shone, the birds were singing and beer gardens were filled with happy people spending their money. The realities of fuel increases and the war in Ukraine seemed very far away.

All seemed well with the world, until we ordered a portion of fish and chips to take home. I didn’t even think to look at the prices on the back wall, because a typical portion comes to around £7 right? Wrong - it looks like all the increases have finally hit our national dish and I was staggered when I ended up paying over £20 for two portions of fish and chips with mushy peas.

The card reader machine in the chippy struggled to pick up my card because my hand was shaking so much from the shock. I walked out of the shop in a daze, and it wasn’t just because of the glass of pinot I’d had in that sunny beer garden. I felt like I’d been duped – maybe the shop was taking advantage of the fact that it was a sunny bank holiday weekend? But I checked the prices on my phone later and was stunned to see that they were correct.

Now, I don’t get takeaways very often, usually every couple of weeks as a treat on a Friday. But it’s worrying if this price increase is going to make some customers think twice about getting a Friday night fish supper. According to the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) since October last year the cost of cod has risen by 75 per cent and the price of haddock has increased by 85 per cent. Also mushy peas have seen a 120 per cent price increase while the cost of batter has surged by 40 per cent. It seems Ukraine and Russia are large producers of sunflower oil, which is used by many fish and chips shops, and this is possibly running out.

Even potatoes could soon become more expensive, as rising gas prices push up the cost of fertiliser. The NFFF warns that the price increases could see around half of our chippies going out of business. I don’t know about you but I feel like there is something wrong with our country if an industry, which has survived for over a 150 years, could now be threatened. When people often don’t think twice about what they do spend their money on, from expensive coffees to designer clothes, should it really be our local, British businesses that suffer? The call to shop local has never been more important than it is now, as we should be supporting the companies on our doorsteps that looked after us during the pandemic.

So what if our Friday night staple is no longer as cheap as chips – it’s a British tradition that is worth paying for, and definitely worth saving.