Traditional chippy is among UK’s high fryers
INSIDE an unassuming 1960s precinct in Woodley lies one of the country’s best quality fish and chip shops - so we went down to try it.
Traditional chippy Taylors is nestled between a pet food shop and supermarket Iceland and it 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.
Today, like it has been every year, 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. Despite Anne telling me the Stockport shopping precinct is ‘booming’, we must have been a bit late to the party, as the only sign of life at 5.05pm on a Wednesday was Taylors.
Once you step inside, you pass a 50-seater restaurant area, which had a few people dotted about, with some customers standing by the till waiting for their order, so we didn’t have to queue.
It serves exactly what you’d expect from a traditional chip shop, and more, with a choice of cod or haddock, scampi, and fish cake.
There’s sausage available, but without the batter, and you can also get chicken nuggets, chilli, mince, and also a choice of homemade pies.
When it comes to sides, they offer mushy peas, curry sauce, Irish curry sauce, and their own-recipe tartar sauce.
We went for the classic fish and chips twice with mushy peas, and they suggested their tartar sauce for on the side too, which came to £8.50 each.
Manager Jamie, 26, who has been with the company since he was 14, operated the frying stations with finesse whilst Mikey, another friendly staff member, plated our portions and doused them with vinegar, just the way we like it.
For those ordering takeout, all orders are packaged in biodegradable boxes and placed inside branded paper bags with no plastic in sight - a modern and commendable way of thinking for an ageold chippy.
Before our visit, Anne, 71, told me they “don’t cut corners and use the finest ingredients”, with sustainable fish sourced in Iceland, frozen at sea, and only the “best potatoes”.
And you really could tell.
The chips were the best fish and chip shop chips we’ve had - crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside - and they didn’t taste greasy.
When it came to the fish, it had the perfect ratio of cod to batter, with just a light dusting.
It felt like a decent portion of fish too, as sometimes you can be left with empty batter at the ends.
Whilst the fish was really tasty, it could have done with resting for a few moments on grease-proof paper before it was plated, as there was a little excess oil underneath.
The mushy peas came piping hot in its own pot, and the tartar sauce added an extra bit of flavour.
But I think what made it taste even better was the sense that you were a part of something, of longstanding tradition.
Anne, who has only ever worked in the chip shop after opening it with her parents when she left school at 16 in 1966, says she’ll probably never retire.
“It’s brilliant really,” Anne said, 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. But the smaller portions available are also popular with locals at lunchtime, where precinct visitors may go to the hairdressers in the morning and then the chippy for lunch, or have a cup of coffee at the cafe next door that Anne’s daughter, Nicola, manages.
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.”
When Taylors began offering click-and-collect to limit the number of customers in the shop, Anne mistakenly thought it was the way forward.
“It’s gone very much back to what it was,” she added. “Fish and chips is very much a traditional thing, and I think it will always be a favourite.”
Find Britain’s best Fish & Chip shops who have received the NFFF Quality Accreditation near you, download or request your printed copy from www. qualityfishandchips. co.uk/guide