Ernie’s Fish & Chips: South Yorkshire chippy named among Fry’s top 50 fish and chip takeaways in the UK

Ernie’s Fish & Chips, on Hoyland’s High Street, has been named as one of the UK’s 50 Best Fish & Chip Takeaways for 2022/23.

It follows two rounds of mystery dining by leading trade publication Fry Magazine in which an anonymous judge sampled the food and assessed key aspects of the business, from the cleanliness of the premises, to staff knowledge and professionalism, to social media presence.

With the pass mark set high at 95 per cent, Ernie’s Fish & Chips scored an impressive 98 per cent with the mystery diner praising the ‘freshly cooked, clean and crisp fish and chips’, as well as how ‘friendly and polite’ the staff were.

The judge’s report read: “They were friendly and polite without being intrusive. We had a good chat about the challenges they face with the energy prices and balancing opening hours with footfall, we can’t wait to go again.

“I really liked going there. Staff were friendly, clearly knew the locals, were engaged with the customers and able to answer my questions in a very friendly manner.”

Charlie Sellings and Lee Dobson, who have owned Ernie’s since August 2020, said they were “absolutely blown away” with the result. They said: “It’s the first time we’ve entered the award, and we genuinely only did it to get some solid feedback to see if we could grace the Top 50 next year.

“We’re yet to complete our third year trading and neither of us have worked in catering before, so it’s a genuine honour to receive both the award and the national validation – we won’t stop until we’ve won them all.

“We did want to take this opportunity to thank our staff. This shows their dedication and commitment since opening. Just to keep us trading through the covid pandemic was tough enough, we’re all out of superlatives trying to describe some of them. Also, we have to tip our hat to our wonderful customers as well: their high standards have aligned with our own and put Hoyland on the map.”

Reece Head, competition organiser, said: “It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Ernie’s Fish & Chips on being one of the UK’s 50 Best Fish & Chip Takeaways.

“They are pushing forwards while not losing sight of what makes the chippy so engrained in British culture - high quality, value for money food with great customer service and inviting surroundings.”