The price of fish and chips has nearly doubled since 2019 as chippies battle with the soaring cost of cod.
Customers were shelling out £11.17 on average for the beloved takeaway in March this year, up from £10.28 a year earlier, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows. It shows a sharp increase from 2019, when the average price was £6.48.
It comes as the cost of haddock and cod has risen dramatically amid the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Figures from the ONS show the average cost of fresh and chilled cod, haddock, hake and pollock has risen by 22 per cent from £21.06 last year to £25.73 this year.
A 45lb (20kg) box of cod costing £110 in December 2024 priced at £330 in March – a 200 per cent increase, shop owners reported in March.
Energy costs have also spiralled since the start of the war in Iran, with the cost of oil reaching its highest level since 2022 at the end of April.
Shopkeepers have previously warned “people’s mindset is going to have to change” as chippies look to cheaper alternatives to cod and haddock in order to stay in business.
Andrew Arnold, who runs Railway Street Fisheries in Pocklington, near York, told the BBC he believes customers will begin to see more alternatives including Norwegian pollock on the menu.
"The traditional fish and chip shop is going to go, if we don't diversify and do different things," he said.
"I can sell pollock at £10.50 and still make a reasonable profit on it.”
In April, customers were urged to stop eating UK-caught cod, as conservationists warned of a worrying population decline. The Marine Conservation Society downgraded all cod caught in British waters to the worst possible rating, stating that the population was “at dangerously low levels” and there was “no plan in place to help it recover”.
Cod populations have been in a decline since 2015, largely due to overfishing, but also worsened by rising sea temperatures.
In September 2025, scientists warned fishermen will need to catch less cod in British waters in order to protect the species.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), a Denmark-based independent body which advises the government on managing fish stocks, found the cod population in almost all of Britain’s waters was so depleted that none should be caught next year for the species to recover.
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