Newbiggin fish and chip shop receives award for being a top-quality chippy

The team successfully passed the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) Fish & Chip Quality Accreditation scheme after being assessed against the quality benchmark and were rewarded with the 'BIG Q' quality accreditation sign.

To pass, owner Navdeep Kumar and manager Matthew Foster, along with the rest of the team, faced inspections on produce, hygiene and skills.

Matthew said: “We took over the shop in January, and since we did that, we've just been working very hard to get some awards and we are looking more awards in the future.

"It's quite a team effort. You have to basically have everything they require to get this accreditation award because you can actually fail it if you don't have enough stuff and it did take hard work to get to that stage."

When the business first opened at the start of the year, they started on a high note after receiving five stars for their hygiene inspection by an environmental health officer.

"We’re all very proud,” Matthew added. “Navdeep and I have been in fish and chip business for 15 years and it's the first time we entered for the award. Now we’re striving for the future to gain more awards, and then more competitions if there's any upcoming.

"All of the staff have worked very hard to gain this accreditation and we’re just trying to uplift the food. They had to do hygiene courses and we as a shop have paid for all of that to be done to get this accreditation.”