PETROU Brothers chip shop in Ely has been named as runner-up in the Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Rutland section of the national Fish & Chip Shop of the Year competition. The Chatteris branch of the chip shop was the overall winner in the competition

PETROU Brothers chip shop in Ely has been named as runner-up in the Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Rutland section of the national Fish & Chip Shop of the Year competition.

The Chatteris branch of the chip shop was the overall winner in the competition which is in its 21st year.

Petrou Brothers will now go head-to-head against Fish'n' Chick'n in Ipswich to be crowned the best in Eastern England and possibly go on to reach the ultimate goal of being the best in the UK.

To get this far, the shop has already been voted for by its customers. A mystery judge from competition organisers Seafish, the authority on seafood, then undertook an assessment which deemed it to be the pick of the crop in the Chatteris area. Across the UK, 20 other shops have made it this far.

The next stage of judging will whittle that number down to the best 10 shops in the UK. Petrou Brothers will now undergo a rigorous assessment including checks on its product quality, staff training, innovation, customer service, shop décor and cleanliness, staff hygiene and food preparation techniques. Shops also face questions regarding their policies on sourcing seafood from sustainable stocks.

Mark Petrou said: "Getting to this stage of the competition recognises the hard work we've put in over the years. We deliver the best fish and chips time after time and it's great for our customers to know that they are getting the best in the area. We'll be doing all we can to make sure we make it through to the next round."

Andy Gray, competition judge at Seafish, said: "The shops reaching this stage have consistently shown high standards by offering quality fish and chips and great value for money. In the 21 years the competition has been running, standards have risen considerably across the UK. Shops are now offering a much wider range of seafood and modern frying techniques have reduced the amount of fat, making fish and chips a relatively healthy option as a takeaway."

Petrou Brothers will find out if it has made it through to the final 10 shops in early November and the national winner will be presented with the overall winner's crown by TV chef Simon Rimmer at a ceremony in London in January.