A beloved Prestwich chip shop has been named amongst the UK’s best for the second year running – and its owners are absolutely overjoyed.
Prestwich chippy Chips @ No.8 was named amongst the very best in the country by 2022 Fry Magazine Awards, alongside two other Greater Manchester chippies – The Little Chippy in Tyldesley and Wigan’s The Fish at Goose Green.
And with this year’s pass mark set high at 96%, Chips @ No.8 scored an impressive 98% – with the mystery diner particularly praising the high quality, freshly cooked to order food, the friendly and professional staff and eco-friendly packaging.
In a series of ebullient social media posts, Chips @ No.8’s owner Dan Edwards shared his amazement that, out of over 10,500 chippies, his had made it into the Top 50 for two years now.
Image: Chips @ No.8
He wrote: “Wow! What a day! We’ve just found out that out of over 10,500 fish and chip shops, our little chippy down a side street in P-Town has made @frymagazine Top 50 fish and chip takeaways in the country for the 2nd year running!!!”
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Continuing in another post, he revealed that when he opened the shop four years ago he didn’t even like fish and chips, and had only fried three fish in his life.
Having sunk ‘almost everything’ he had into doing the shop up and spending the rest down the road at All The Shapes manchester on ‘breaks’, six months later he opened his doors for a moment of truth.
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How the shop looked before Dan renovated it. / Image: Chips @ No.8
How the chip shop looks now, four years and two awards later. / Image: Chips @ No.8
He called the move “a moment of madness”, and said that he had “just wanted to be my own boss” – adding “I either sank or swam… fortunately, I discovered I was incredibly bouyant.”
He’s not wrong. Locals absolutely rave about his little chip shop down a side street. And now it’s been awarded with a national gong, too.
“Two and a half years later we were listed in the UK’s best 50 chippies out of over 10,000 shops, and we have no plans to rest on our laurels,” he finished.
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In an additional comment, he told The Manc: “To have made the list two years running is an incredible achievement and the whole team can be very proud of themselves.
“We try to provide all our customers with a great all round experience every time they visit and that means we have to be continually on top of our game.
“We use only the finest, locally sourced ingredients, we fry in beef dripping and our fish is delivered fresh every day, caught in UK waters by UK fisheries. You can taste the freshness and it really makes a difference”
Image: The Little Chippy, Tyldesley
To choose the winners for this year’s Fry Magazine Awards, mystery diners sampled thousands of portions of fish and chips from shops up and down the country.
Alongside Chips @ No.8, Tyldesley’s The Little Chippy and The Fish at Goose Green in Wigan also made it into this year’s top 50 – with The Fish at Goose Green taking home the gong for the third year running.
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All takeaways and restaurants that entered will receive their mystery dining report, a winner’s poster and plaque to proudly display in their shop.
Reece Head, competition organiser, commented: “We’re so pleased to announce this year’s winners. The awards recognise and celebrate the hard work, passion and dedication that these operators put into running their businesses.
“It’s been a tough couple of years for the industry, in particular for restaurants that have had to deal with closures, but operators continued to adapt, motivate their workforce and invest in new equipment and systems that have seen them come out the other side stronger and in a better position.
“Our 50 Best Takeaway and 10 Best Restaurant winners really do represent the best in the business and they continue to showcase fish and chips as a high quality, value for money meal.”
Feature image – Chips @ No. 8
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Tameside police officers hailed ‘absolute heroes’ after saving the life of a seven-year-old girl
Emily Sergeant
Two Tameside police officers have been hailed as “absolute heroes” after saving the life of a seven-year-old little girl.
It comes after emergency services were called to an address in the Greater Manchester borough of Tameside earlier this week (29 November), and found a young girl who was struggling to breath and coughing up blood after choking on a sweet.
Police Constables Aaron Kincaid and James Blundell, from Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Tameside division, were first on the scene.
To the huge relief of the girl’s parents, who were said to be “understandably distressed” and concerned for her welfare, PC Kincaid jumped straight into action and was able to utilise his first aid training to full effect by going on to successfully dislodge the sweet from the youngster’s throat, and then helping to calm her down before the paramedics arrived.
Whilst PC Kincaid looked after the little girl, PC Blundell did “everything he could” to help the parents remain calm.
Paramedics then took over once they arrived, and the young girl was taken to hospital as a precaution.
#NEWS | Tameside officers praised for saving the life of a 7-year-old girl who was choking.
The officers used their first aid training to dislodge the sweet, whilst helping the young girl and parents remain calm until paramedics arrived.
Reflecting on the incident, and hailing his officers “absolute heroes”, Superintendent Mike Walsh, from GMP’s Tameside district, said: “PCs Aaron Kincaid and James Blundell acted without hesitation during the incident, and took control of the situation that they were faced with.
“They deserve every credit for staying calm under extreme pressure and for working together as a team and utilising their training to lifesaving effect, and I’m sure the girl’s parents and family will consider them to be absolute heroes.”
“We’re both glad that we were in the right place at the right time,” PC Kincaid added.
“I have a daughter the same age as the little girl who needed our help, and I cannot tell you how much of a relief it was when she started breathing normally and said she was okay after I had managed to dislodge the sweet.
“The little girl gave me a thank you hug before she went to hospital, but I couldn’t have done what I did without PC Blundell’s assistance, so it was a real team effort.”
Featured Image – GMP
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Someone has plastered posters advertising ‘authorised drug zones’ all over Manchester city centre
Daisy Jackson
Posters promoting ‘authorised’ drug use and sales have appeared all over Manchester today.
The posters even include Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council logos – though, obviously, without the consent of either authority.
The fake posters have also been springing up in other cities, with locals in Leeds spotting them all over the place yesterday.
They read: “Crack and heroin zone. The sale and use of Crack and Heroin is authorised in this area.”
The fake posters have been spotted outside the Central Library and in the Northern Quarter, as well as at locations in other parts of the city.
They were quickly removed by authorities, who say they were posted illegally.
West Yorkshire Police said yesterday: “We are aware of fake posters that have been illegally posted at locations in and around Leeds city centre and are making further enquiries.”
Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council have also been approached for comment.
Manchester mayoral candidate Nick Buckey wrote on X: “The lack of action to the drug epidemic in Greater Manchester is so huge that people thought these posters were legitimate.
“When jokes seems like reality then we know we have a problem.”
It appears that the group behind the drug posters project is Pattern Up, a ‘young artist collective from Brighton making their mark on the streets with provocative and witty installations’.
Plenty of people seem to have fallen for the stunt, believing it’s real, with one person posting on Instagram: “Can’t find anything online so surely fake news unless someone has a source.”
Another wrote: “Hahaha f*ck off this can’t be legit.”