CHIP, CHOP HOORAY!
HIGH-FRYERS NAMED IN TOP GUIDE TO BEST CHIPPIES IN THE COUNTRY
INSIDE an unassuming 1960s precinct lies one of the country’s best quality fish and chip shops.
Traditional chippy Taylors is nestled in a precinct in Woodley, Stockport – and dates back three generations.
It was opened by Anne Wallace’s family 55 years ago and to this day continues to be a firm favourite with local shoppers grabbing a bite to eat.
But it’s also nationally renowned, with a number of accolades, including an OBE from Prince Charles for Anne’s commitment to training her staff and serving the community.
Taylors has been named in the ‘Official Guide to the UK’s Quality Fish and Chip Shops 2021’ by the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) in collaboration with Sarson’s vinegar.
Anne, 71, says they ‘don’t cut corners and use the finest ingredients,’ with sustainable fish sourced in Iceland, frozen at sea, and only the ‘best potatoes.’
She has only ever worked in the chip shop after opening it with her parents when she left school at 16 in 1966 – and says she’ll probably never retire.
“It’s brilliant really,” said Anne, who still works at Taylors with her husband Robert, 73, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. “My mum was still frying fish and chips when she was 92 and I think it kept her young. My dad died when he was 75 so she was on her own for 20 years, the shop was a lifeline for her.
“I’d like to think we have more of a work-life balance than she had. We do as much as we want to do, very much involved, but we have brilliant staff.”
Anne offers apprenticeships and NVQs to the people who join her, as she believes investing in her staff, in turn, produces great customer service.
“Someone said to me once, what if you train your staff and they leave? And I said what if I train them and they don’t? Or if I don’t train them and they stay?” she said.
“Customer service is just as important as the product and for some of our customers, our staff will be the only people they speak to that day.”
She says Fridays are ‘mad busy,’ where they’ll sell 200 fish within a peak three-hour teatime period.
Changes to the way they run were made at the start of the pandemic, adapting to online orders and clickand-collect, but Anne says the last two months have been ‘really difficult’ due to the pandemic. “Up to that point I didn’t know anyone who had Covid, it just seems to have gone crazy.
“The past year has been very difficult for hospitality, but the businesses here work together. A Guardian critic once said the precinct was tatty, and I thought ‘how rude!’ But to be honest, it says a lot about the success of the business. It’s booming. There are no empty shops – we have a butchers, greengrocers, independent shops, and it’s the result of everyone’s hard work.
“Fish and chips is very much a traditional thing, and I think it will always be a favourite.”