For cod’s hake, not another chippy!

How exasperated residents greeted plan for old bank in seaside town

‘It’s the only reason you come here’

WiTH visitors known to queue in the streets waiting for a table, it is fair to say that fish and chips are taken very seriously in Whitby.

But it seems locals in Britain’s unofficial chip shop capital have had enough of the frying frenzy.

When news spread that the town’s three-storey NatWest bank building was to be converted into a 180-seat fish and chip chain restaurant, a rebellion ensued.

Residents were so angry that another takeaway was to open that 486 members of the small community wrote to Scarborough Council to object to the plans.

They complained that ‘Whitby did not need another fish and chip shop’ and there was a demand for ‘something different’.

The new restaurant, which has been approved by the council, will compete with 21 other chip shops in the town centre including the famed magpie Cafe, which opened in 1939, and is renowned for its queues. it will also come up against Trenchers, which was named Best in the UK in its category in January. if that was not enough, other seafood restaurants in the area include The Star inn The Harbour, opened by michelinstarred chef Andrew Pern in 2017.

Letters to the local newspaper revealed how residents are desperate for new amenities in the North Yorkshire seaside town.

michael Kilpatrick wrote: ‘ At least give us something that will enhance the town... not another chippy, for cod’s hake!’

margaret Hall, one of the hundreds who wrote to the council, described the plans for the bank building as an ‘insult’ to the town. She added: ‘ The very last thing Whitby is in need of is another fish and chip shop. The universal reaction from by far the majority of people on hearing what the NatWest might become is a resounding, “say it isn’t so”.’

But with no legal reason to refuse the ‘change of use’ application for the building, the scheme was given the go-ahead last month without even a vote by councillors.

Carly Radford, 29, who works in a butcher’s, said: ‘There are loads of chip shops and hardly any clothes shops. We have to go to York or middlesbrough to shop.’ Shirley Newsome, 60, whose family have run Alexanders chip shop next to the bank for 40 years, now faces more competition.

She says most residents agree it’s gone too far. ‘it’s absolutely ridiculous,’ she said. ‘Everywhere you go they are doing fish and chips. Local people want clothes shops, a cinema or ice cream parlour, but not another fish restaurant. There are more now than there has ever been.’

Adrian Fusco’s family have been in the business for half a century and they own four of Whitby’s chip shops, including a national award winner. ‘it’s a saturated market and the locals don’t want any more fish and chip shops,’ he said. ‘The High Street is going backwards, shops are replaced by fish and chip restaurants.’

Despite having a population of just 13,200, tens of thousands of tourists flock every year to the once-booming fishing port.

Some visit to climb the 199 steps leading up to Whitby Abbey and the windswept headland that inspired the opening scenes of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. But many come to eat.

This week families on half-term trips queued out the door of the most popular chip shops, suggesting business is not likely to dry up any time soon. Gemma Astbury, 29, was visiting with relatives to celebrate her birthday. ‘it’s the reason you come here,’ she said.

‘i wanted to go to the seaside to eat fish and chips on my birthday and there’s no better place.’ Councillor Dennis Collins is aware of the problem, but claims the authorities are powerless. He said: ‘Everybody who comes here wants fish and chips but residents have to go elsewhere to shop. The Homebase closed and marks & Spencer aren’t coming here any more. They were going to hang me in town when i told them this scheme had passed.’ Even the former public toilet block next to the beach is to be demolished so that a restaurant can be built. But to the relief of locals, the developer behind the project plans to serve something other than fish and chips as ‘there’s far too many of them already.’