OLDSWINFORD Fish and Chips is the best chippy in the whole of the Midlands, according to a national competition.

The Hagley Road eatery has reached the final of the 2017 National Fish and Chip Awards where it will hope to batter the nine other finalists with the aim of being crowned Independent Takeaway Fish and Chip Shop of the Year.

Zach Ioannou, co-owner of Oldswinford Fish and Chips, said it means the world to the family-run business gain a ‘plaice’ in the final.

He said: “Our shop has been in our family for over 39 years, we’ve since established a loyal customer base but competition around here is unbelievable.

“Having unsuccessfully entered this award category three years ago, reaching the top 10 this year comes as long-awaited recognition.

“We took on board all the comments and feedback from previous entries to the awards and look where we are now.

“We place a strong focus on customer service and marketing – working hard with our team of 10 dedicated staff to ensure all of our customers are happy with the fish and chips experience.

“We’ve also been pushing our brand on social media, especially during the different rounds of competition judging, in order to stay relevant and help us target new customers.

“It honestly means the world to the family to be named the Midlands’ best fish and chip shop as part of this year’s awards. Let’s hope we bring the national title home.”

To get to this stage of the competition – organised by Seafish – the shop has been appraised across a variety of judging criteria including responsible sourcing policies, marketing and promotional practices and staff training policies.

They also received mystery shopping assessments by industry experts to ascertain customer service levels and the quality of their fish and chips, along with in-depth judging audits to appraise a wide range of criteria including ingredient storage and preparation processes, cleanliness and integrity of shop equipment and observation of cooking practices.

Oldswinford Fish and Chips will now put their presentation skills to the test in one last judging round, where they will face a specialist judging panel, be quizzed on a diverse range of industry related topics and be required to demonstrate how they successfully run a profitable business and plan for future development.

The final judging stage will determine the overall national winner which will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on January 26, 2017.