Shropshire Star

Wellington chippie is named batter by far

Hundreds of votes were cast, mystery shoppers were sent to taste them for themselves, and now after a two-week contest the Shropshire Star’s Chip Shop of the Year has been crowned.

Published
Andy Maxwell presents the award to Andreas and Ban Vanezi at The Silver Fish, Wellington

First place in the hotly contested competition went to family-run chip shop, The Silver Fish at Tan Bank in Wellington.

The shop, run by brothers Andreas and Ban Vanezi, has been a family business since 1983, with the duo taking over from their father 10 years ago.

The runners-up were Ye Olde Victorian Fryer, from Furnace Lane, Trench, Telford, while third spot went to The Fish & Chip Bros, from Wellington Road, Muxton.

Andreas said they were thrilled to have taken the top prize, and he thanked the customers who had taken the time to vote for them – and even sent letters explaining why The Silver Fish was their favourite.

He said: “We are really happy that all our customers have voted for us. All the other chip shops were really good as well so it is just really nice to be recognised.”

Asked why the shop was so popular with its customers Andreas said: “I think we are good value for money and our customer service is something we work very hard on.

“Everyone is really friendly and we try and make sure we get involved with the community as much as possible.” Andreas also offered his thanks to everyone who had voted for the shop during the competition.

He said: “I would like to say a big thank you to the customers who voted for us. We had customers sending letters through the post with vouchers, that was really nice of them.

“When people take the time to do that it is great.”

Andrew Maxwell, circulation sales manager for the Shropshire Star offered his congratulations to the winners, and said it had proved a strong competition.

He said: “We are very proud to hand over the trophy to Silver Fish after they came out on top of what was a really hotly contested competition.

“There was a fantastic response from the public and it certainly showed how many great fish and chip shops we have.

“We had some wonderful entries and they all deserve credit, but ultimately there has to be a winner and a big congratulations to Andreas and Ban at The Silver Fish.”