MSC-certified cod and haddock from four named boats, potatoes from Pembrokeshire, dripping to biodiesel, the paper not the plastic
Sustainability
Our cod and haddock come from four boats fishing MSC-certified stocks in the North Sea, the Barents Sea and off Iceland, frozen at sea; the plaice and hake from Brixham day boats when they land. Potatoes from a farm in Pembrokeshire, the dripping to a biodiesel firm in Newport, and paper, card and wooden forks instead of plastic since 2018.
A fish and chip shop is only as sustainable as the fish, so we start there. Our cod and haddock come from four boats we can name, fishing stocks certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, which means the stock is healthy, the fishery is well managed and the boat can be traced. It costs a little more and it is the reason the fish will still be here when the shop is a hundred.
The four boats: two freezer trawlers out of Hull and Peterhead fishing North Sea haddock and Barents Sea cod; a longliner out of Iceland for the cod, caught on hooks; and a Shetland boat for haddock in the winter. All MSC-certified; all frozen at sea within hours. Plaice and hake come from Brixham day boats when they land, and when they do not the board says so. We do not sell skate, rock salmon or anything that is not on the Good Fish Guide's green or amber list.
The rest: Maris Pipers from one farm in Pembrokeshire, delivered weekly; beef dripping from a Welsh supplier, collected when spent by a biodiesel firm in Newport; peelings to a farm for the pigs; paper, card boxes and wooden forks since 2018, when we stopped buying polystyrene; a filter on the range that cut our oil use by a third. And the night shelter in Cardiff gets what is left at nine.
What you get
- MSC-certified cod and haddock from four named boats
- Plaice and hake from Brixham day boats when landed
- Nothing off the Good Fish Guide's green and amber lists
- Pembrokeshire potatoes; peelings to the pigs
- Dripping to biodiesel; no polystyrene since 2018
- What is left at nine to a night shelter
What it costs
Sustainability costs us about 40p a portion more than the cheapest fish on the market. We put it in the price and say so. The menu has every price, the allergens page all fourteen allergens for every item, and the order page the collection slots still open.
Questions about sustainability
What does MSC-certified mean?
That the fishery has been assessed independently as fishing a healthy stock, with a small impact on the sea and good management, and that every fish can be traced back to it. The blue label is on our boxes.
Why not local fish?
The cod and haddock that make the best fish and chips are not caught in the Bristol Channel in any quantity. The plaice and hake from Brixham are the closest good fish, and we buy them when they land.
Book a slot, skip the queue.
Pick a collection time from the slots still open, every fifteen minutes through each shift, say what you would like, and it is fried to the slot and waiting in a bag with your name on it at the end of the counter.