A HAGLEY fish frier has been named as one of the best in the UK after he was shortlisted for a ‘young fish frier of the year’ award.

James Houlston, of Our Plaice, will now go up against the nine other contenders ‘fishing’ for a top prize in the 2016 National Fish & Chip Awards.

The award encourages the younger generation in the industry to nurture their individual skills and talent to become positive role models for other young people working in the fish and chip sector.

To get to this stage, James has undergone a gruelling judging process and in the coming weeks he will be subject to further judging at a rigorous testing day at the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) Training School in Leeds.

This next stage of the competition will whittle down the shortlist, establishing the five finalists who will compete to be crowned this year’s champion at the London awards ceremony.

Briar Wilkinson, sales director at Drywite Ltd – organisers of the young frier award, said: We’ve been running this competition for 20 years now and this year the standard of entries has again been exceptionally high.”

Paul Williams, chief executive of Seafish – which run the National Fish & Chip Awards, said: “It’s so important that we recognise upcoming talent and applaud our young people for investing in our industry.

“This award is such an aspiration and to be shortlisted is a great achievement in itself – it confirms that they have started their careers on the right track and are well on their way to becoming the UK’s next top friers.”

The judging process will culminate in an awards ceremony at The Lancaster London Hotel on January 20, 2016.

For more information on all the young frier contenders visit www.youngfriers.com, or for more on The National Fish & Chip Awards visit www.fishandchipawards.com