Fish and chip shop accused of 'ripping people off' as price of haddock hiked to £8.20

30 April 2025, 23:43 | Updated: 1 May 2025, 08:21

An award winning fish and chip shop has come under fire after raising their price of haddock to £8.20.

Chips @ No 8 in Greater Manchester is recognised as one of the best fish and chip shops in the area, but has accused of "ripping people off".

The classic takeaway claimed that the price of haddock from their suppliers had increased by 125% in the last seven years.

Once costing £58 a box back in 2018, a box of the fish now costs £130 - on top of overheads and utility prices of keeping the shop open.

Owner Dan Edwards took to social media to defend the price hike - as haddock is their biggest seller besides chips.

He said: "We temporarily increased the price of haddock to £8.20 on the Saturday so that we weren't in danger of making a loss after we factor in the overheads and the reason for this post was someone accused us of 'ripping people off!'. So this is for transparency."

He wanted to "continue to support our domestic fisherladies and fishermen".

"We survive squeezed margins through volume, simple as that. The balance between profit, if any and footfall is a fine one. Prices will fluctuate until the fish market settles but please know that no-one is ripping anyone off here."

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Supportive comments flooded in for Chips @ No 8.

"Your chippy is fantastic and I'd rather pay more knowing I'm getting great food. Keep up the good work," one commenter wrote.

Another said: "People don't understand how difficult it is running a business in this climate. Prices double overnight and you can only soak it up the odd time."

One person wrote: "Keep on keeping on Dan. Best chippy in the country. Nobody wants to pay more but I'm sure all reasonable people understand and will continue to support your great chippy."

The price of food is now 2.6% higher than a year ago, up from 2.4% in March, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-NIQ Shop Price Index.

Fresh food is now 1.8% more expensive than last April, up from 1.4% in March.

The BRC has already said it expects food inflation to hit 4% by the second half of the year amid geopolitical tensions and a £7 billion increase in costs from the autumn Budget.

The BRC’s latest figures show shop prices overall were down 0.1% on last April, up from a decline of 0.4% in March.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced she would raise employer's NICs from 13.8% to 15% in her autumn statement last year.

She also announced the NI threshold would reduce, with businesses paying contributions from £9,100 to £5,000.

Reeves has come under repeated criticism for her £40 billion tax raid in the autumn Budget.

Her £25 billion National Insurance hike for employers has prompted major warnings from business leaders, who have raised the alarm over plunging business confidence and fewer jobs.

Employers also face further bills hikes from April when the National Living wage rise by 6.7 per cent to £12.21 an hour.