Pollock and chips? British chippies face closure unless we eat cheaper fish, says award-winning owner

The owner of an award-winning fish and chip shop has warned chippies will close if customers don’t start to eat alternatives to cod.

Andrew Arnold, who runs Railway Street Fisheries in Pocklington, near York, claims cod has become too expensive and cheaper fish such as pollock could keep chippies in business.

He explained the price of cod and haddock has risen sharply, with a 45lb (20kg) box of cod costing £110 in December 2024 now priced at £330 – a 200 per cent increase.

Haddock and chips is now sold in his shop for £12.50 up from £8.50 in December 2024.

Mr Arnold believes “people’s mindset is going to have to change” and suggests customers order cheaper varieties, such as Norwegian pollock, which he insists tastes just as good.

“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.”

According to ONS figures, the average price of a takeaway fish and chips in 2026 is £11.02 – a 10 per cent increase on last year when the average was £10.06.

To keep up with inflation, a growing number of chippies have started frying alternative species such as pollock, hake from South Africa and hoki from New Zealand, according to Andrew Crook, the president of the National Federation of Fish Friers.

But fish merchant Nathan Godley, from Grimsby, who supplies food to fish and chip shops, doesn’t think selling alternative fish will help and believes British people just love cod and haddock.

“In the long term, you’ve just got to pay the price, I think,” he told the broadcaster.

He said there aren’t enough fish being caught and sent to chip shops, which is why the price has soared.

In September 2025, scientists warned fishermen will need to catch less cod in British waters in order to protect the species.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), a Denmark-based independent body which advises the government on managing fish stocks, found the cod population in almost all of Britain’s waters was so depleted that none should be caught next year for the species to recover.