After three months of mystery dining fish and chip takeaways, restaurants and mobiles across the UK, we can proudly announce the winners of our 2020 Fry Awards.

With the 50 Best Takeaways and 10 Best Restaurants now in their eighth year, and 10 Best Mobiles celebrating its second, a place on the lists is highly sought after.

Following an unannounced mystery dining visit to each outlet, operators were secretly assessed on over 40 aspects of their businesses from the quality of fish and chips and staff presentation to front-of-house hygiene and customer service.

Shops were awarded extra marks for focusing on areas such as the provenance of their products, for example communicating where their fish, potatoes and frying medium are sourced, offering card payment facilities and having a five star food hygiene rating.

Once again, the food remained the main focus, with all outlets assessed on the flakiness of the fish, the crispness of the chips and the crunch of the batter, alongside value for money.

The pass rate was set very high this year with takeaways needing to hit 96% to qualify, restaurants 94% and mobiles 89%.

50 Best Takeaways

• Auckley Friery, Auckley, South Yorkshire
• Bishopston Fish Bar, Horfield, Bristol
• Callaways Fish & Chips, Dorchester, West Dorset
• Captain’s Traditional Fish & Chips, Harrow, London
• Chish and Fips, Norwich, Norfolk
• Drakes, Babbacombe, Torquay, Devon
• Fiddlers Elbow Fish & Chips, Leintwardine, Herefordshire
• Finn’s Traditional Fish and Chips, Reading, Berkshire
• Fish ‘n’ Fritz, Weymouth, Dorset
• Fishtastic, Peterborough, Lincolnshire
• Fochabers, Fochabers, Moray
• Frydales of Syston, Syston, Leicester
• Frydays of Kendal, Kendal , Cumbria
• Fylde Fish Bar, Marshside, Southport, Lancashire
• Hiks, Brynhyfryd, Swansea, Glamorgan
• Hill Top Village Fisheries, Slaithwaite, Oldham, Lancashire
• Hirds Family Fisheries, Halifax, West Yorkshire
• Hooked@31, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire
• Land & Sea, Sowerby, York, North Yorkshire
• Market Hill Fisheries, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
• Middleton In Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop, Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham
• Mister C’s, Fulford, North Yorkshire
• Mister C’s, Selby, North Yorkshire,
• My Plaice Fish & Chips, Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk
• Oysters Fish & Chips, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
• Penaluna’s Famous Fish & Chips, Hirwaun, Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf
• Plattens Fish and Chips, Wells-Next-The-Sea, Norfolk
• Priory Plaice Fish and Chips, Ulverston, Cumbria
• Proper Fish & Chip Co, Exmouth, Devon
• Redcloak Fish and Chips, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire
• Robinson’s Traditional Fish & Chips, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham
• Sandgate Friery, Penrith, Cumbria
• Scott’s Plaice, Gosport, Hampshire
• Smith's Chippy, South Shields, Tyne & Wear
• The Chip Club, Kingston-Upon-Thames, London
• The Codfather, Manchester Road, Cheshire
• The Cod’s Scallops, Bramcote Lane, Nottingham
• The Esk Cafe , Carlisle, Cumbria
• The Fish at Goose Green, Preston, Lancashire
• The Fish Bar, Crewe, Cheshire
• The Fish Works, Largs, North Ayrshire
• The Friary, Carrickfergus, County Antrim
• The Magpie Café, Whitby, North Yorkshire
• The Plaice To Be, Kilmarnock, Troon, South Ayrshire
• The Real Food Café, Tyndrum, Perthshire
• Topcatch Fish and Chips, Southampton, Hampshire
• Towngate Fisheries, Idle, Bradford, West Yorkshire
• Valerios Fish and Chips, Lanark, South Lanarkshire
• Wetherby Whaler, Wetherby, West Yorkshire
• Wollaston Fish Bar, Wollaston, Stourbridge, West Midlands

10 Best Restaurants

• Eric’s Fish and Chips, Holt, Norfolk
• Fylde Fish and Chips, Burscough, West Lancashire
• Linfords Traditional Fish & Chips, Market Deeping, Lincolnshire
• Mister C’s, Selby, North Yorkshire
• Simpsons Fish and Chips, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
• The Cod’s Scallops, Long Eaton, Nottingham, Derbyshire
• The Magpie Café, Whitby, North Yorkshire
• The Scallop Shell, Bath, Somerset
• Wetherby Whaler, Wetherby, West Yorkshire
• Ye Olde Restaurant And Fish Shoppe, Gloucester, Gloucestershire

10 Best Mobiles

• Cods and Rockers, Tadley, Hampshire
• Go Fish & Chips, Calcott, Reading, Berkshire
• Fitzy’s Fish, Wirral, Merseyside
• Howe and Co, Little Horwood, Buckinghamshire
• Lincs Fryer, Lincolnshire & Nottingham
• North West Event Catering, Kendal, Cumbria
• Oh My Cod, Spalding, Lincolnshire
• The Flying Fryer, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Tony’s on the Go, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire
• Tropics Two, Dersingham, Norfolk

Reece Head, competition organiser, comments: “Announcing our award winners couldn’t come at a better time. The industry is going through a stage of uncertainty with coronavirus impacting the lives and incomes of thousands of shops and owners. This is just the news we need to lift the industry so that those that are still trading can tell their customers immediately, while those that are closed have something exciting to shout about when their doors open again.

“Our award winners are all at the top of their game and are moving with the times, embracing technology such as contactless payments, online ordering, and click and collect and delivery while still ensuring the food they are serving is top quality and the customer service is second to none.”

All shops and businesses that entered will receive their mystery dining report and competition packs over the next few days.

Fry Magazine would like to thank this year’s competition sponsors: Goldensheaf, Frymax, Friars Pride, VA Whitley, Henry Colbecks, Middleton Foods, KFE, Brakes, Profry, NFFF, BD Signs and Acumen.

Takeaways, restaurants and mobiles will be able to enter for 2021 when the awards open in May at www.frymagazine.com/shop