A popular chippy in Prestwich has been ranked as one of the best across the UK.

The Fry Awards are in their 11th year of ranking the best fish and chip takeaways and restaurants in the UK.

After a shop applies to be inspected, anonymous customers will visit the premises on two occasions to rank the quality of food, cleanliness of the premises, staff knowledge, value for money, ease of ordering, and social media presence.

And for the last three years, Chips at No.8 on Clifton Road in Prestwich has made the top 50.

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It’s the only chip shop in the borough to make the list this year and is only one of four in Greater Manchester to be recognised.

The Fish at Goose Green in Wigan, Sykes Fish and Chips in Swinton and Pennington Plaice in Leigh were the other three to make the list in the region.

Chips at No.8 owner Dan Edwards said: “It’s the third time in a row we’ve made the list so to make it one time is an incredible achievement, there’s 10,500 fish and chip shops in the country so to do it three times in a row is a great achievement.

“I’m under no illusions that its my team that pulled this one off, I’ve got a brilliant group of young people who work so hard.

“I know the food is a big part of it but for here it’s the whole experience.

“We want it to be a completely different experience of going into a fish and chip shop than anyone has had before.

“The moment of walking in the door to walking out with the bag we wanted everything to feel like you’ve got a premium product whether you’re eating at home or in the shop.

“We set out for it to be something completely different to what people are used to. So, it’s paid off.”

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Chips at No.8 is currently in its fifth year of being open and has been a staple in the community during that time.

Dan added: “I’d never done anything like this before, I hadn’t cooked professionally at all, my previous life was running hotels all over the country.

“As general manager, you can wander wherever you want to in a hotel, and I always found myself in the kitchen with the team.

“I really enjoyed cooking at home and I wanted to do something with food where I was responsible for cooking it.

“I had to think hard about what I could do that doesn’t really require me going back to college and learning and I fell upon this fish and chip shop.

“When we opened, I’d only ever fried three fish in my life!”

Fry Awards competition organiser Reece Head added: “Once again, we’ve had another year where it’s simply got harder to operate a fish and chip business, with rising energy, labour and ingredient costs taking a heavy toll.

“It’s not easy but operators are working harder and smarter, staying ahead of changing tastes and behaviours and adapting accordingly.

“The businesses that make up our 50 best fish and chip takeaways and 10 best fish and chip restaurants represent the best in the industry.

“They are pushing forwards while not losing sight of what makes the chippy so engrained in British culture - high quality, value for money food with great customer service and inviting surroundings.”

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Dan also said that while the cost of living crisis has not massively affected the business, he has noticed that some of their regulars are coming in less often.

He added: “The difficulties for us is making money, the costs are astronomical.

“The raw ingredients have gone up as well as the price of gas and electricity which we use a lot of.

“However due to increased publicity new people have been discovering us so that’s balanced it out.”

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