People across the country will be celebrating their love of fish and chips as they come together on National Fish and Chip Day, which takes place on June 2. From fish and chip shops, pub chains, restaurants, retailers, to the fishermen and farmers who provide the sustainable and natural ingredients used to create it, the nation will be enjoying this iconic family favourite!
The Great British Fish and Chip Survey 2023
To coincide with this year’s National Fish and Chip Day we wanted to find out how the nation liked theirs! The National Fish and Chip day team conducted a nationwide, online survey called The Great British Fish and Chip Survery 2023. It ran from April 13, 2023 until May 22, 2023.
The findings of the survey are below, showing exactly how many people opt for salt and vinegar on their fish and chips and order mushy peas to accompany it.
Favourite thing to have on your fish and chips?
The majority of people said that salt and vinegar was their most favourite things to have on their fish and chips. A staggering 64% of respondents said salt and vinegar was the clear favourite thing to have on their fish and chips. This was followed by just salt chosen by 16%, beating ketchup with 5%.
Favourite thing to have WITH your fish and chips?
Mushy peas was a clear winner when it came to what people wanted to eat alongside their fish and chips, with 40% opting for the accompaniment. The second favourite nationally was a tie between having nothing and just enjoying fish and chips on their own and adding Tartare Sauce both of which 13% opted for.
Favourite fish to have with your chips?
Over half of people surveyed (55%) admitted that cod was their most favourite fish. This was followed by Haddock with 38%. Scotland bucks this trend with 72% of Scots choosing haddock ahead of cod. Yorkshire and Humber also placed haddock ahead of cod as their fish of choice.
Eat in or Takeaway?
The survey found that 89% of people prefer to take their fish and chips away and only 4% would get their fish and chips delivered showing that there is something we all love about visiting our local chippy and them cooking it fresh while we wait!
Favourite place to eat fish chips?
The favourite place to eat them when they do is at home (43%) closely followed by enjoying them at the seaside which pulled in 34% of the votes.
How important is the MSC Blue Tick standard for sustainable fishing to you?
There was fairly even split on whether the MSC Blue Tick was important with 37% saying they would only buy fish and chips from shops with the Blue Tick and 39% saying it doesn’t influence their choice of shop.
What do you call the crispy bits of batter? What a can of worms this question was! By far the most popular wasScraps!
But these are some of the other popular names! What do you call yours?!
- Scribbles
- Batter bits
- Bits
- Broken Batter
- Crunchy bits
- Crunchies
- Scranshions
- Scratchings
- Crispies
- Fish Bits
- Chitlings
- Scrumps
- Gribbles
- Crackling
- Baits
- Scribbins
Regional variations
The people of the East of England were more partial to Just Salt with their fish and chips than the rest of the UK with 20% choosing that.
A bread roll to go with fish and chips was most popular in the North West with 24% of people in the area choosing that.
More people chose curry sauce in the South East than anywhere else in the UK.
In Scotland more people (44%) chose Tartare Sauce as their favourite accompaniment…above mushy peas.
Plaice was more popular in London than any other region.
If you would like specific results for your region or other national facts from the survey please call Josie on 07734 050238 or email [email protected]. Interviews with national award-winning Fish and Chip Shops and industry experts and putting you in touch with some amazing shops in your area can also be arranged.
