Fish and chips fans are taking a battering, as the cost of the UK's favourite Friday tea pulls on the purse strings of family budgets.
Friday was National Fish and Chip Day, but rising prices of fish, potatoes and cooking oil has meant that what was once considered a cheap meal is now an occasional treat for many households, as the cost of living soars.
Most fish and chip shops in our region are managing to keep the cost of our national dish at under the £10 mark for takeaway cod and chips, which Industry chiefs warned earlier in the year is the level needed to retain the nation's 10,500 fish and chip shops.
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The National Federation of Fish Friers (HFFF) warned that that customers must eventually pay more for their chippy tea or up to a third of our chippies could go bust.
The price of cod - the nation's favourite battered fish - has leapt by 75% since October, and even the price of mushy peas has more than doubled, making a price increase inevitable., according to the HFFF.
Federation member Richard Ord, owner of Colman's Fish and Chips on Ocean Road, South Shields, said the industry had been hit by a perfect storm of price rises, which made grim reading.
Richard, who was made an MBE in 2020 for services to the hospitality industry, said: "I have been in the business for 53 years and I have never known anything like it."
Fish and chips cost just 10p when Richard, now 67, started cutting fish aged just 15 in 1969, and takeaway prices start at £9.95 for cod and chips today.
"Fish and chips is unprocessed food, with only a few ingredients, all of which have gone up," said Richard, who runs the business with his wife, Frances, and sons Richard and Dominic, the fifth generation of family to do so.
"We've been here at this site since 1926, and we want to make sure we stay here."
We've taken a look at prices at some of the North East's favourite chippies and a quick check around the menus has revealed prices from £5.50 to £11 for the takeaway treat.
The cheapest fish supper we could find - and the most expensive - were both in Sunderland, where £5.50 buys you one at Crisp and Fry, on Rawmarsh Road, but you'll need to pay double that to get your dinner from Gill's, in Aline Street, where a large cod and chips will set you back £11. Humbledon Fisheries, in Ettrick Grove, charges £8.19.
Moving over to Stanley, lowest priced was The Fish Inn, on High Street, Stanley, which charged £6.40 for cod and chips, while Captain Cod, in Consett, charges £8.10 and Bell's in Market Place, Durham, comes in at £9.
In Gateshead, Linzi's, on Split Crow Road, is charging £5.99, Lobley Hill Fish Bar £7, and Fish Fry, on Sheriff's Highway, £8.30
Over the water in Newcastle, Canny Cod in the city centre is £9.60, Westgate Road Fish and Grill £7.50, and Hooked Fish and Chips, on Station Road, Gosforth, £10.50.
Northumberland's chippies range from Ashington's Bait Box Fish Bar, on Milburn Road, at £8, to Plessey Chippy, on Plessey Road, Blyth, at £9.80. Staying in Blyth, Checkers Fisheries, on Briardale Road, also costs £9.80.
North Tynesiders will pay £10.15 at Northumberland Park, Earsden Road, Shiremoor, £8.90 at the Waterfront on North Shields Fish Quay and £9.50 at Fast Fry, on the Coast Road, Wallsend, while South Tynesiders pay £9.95 at Colman's, or £10.30 at Smiths Chippy, both Ocean Road, South Shields, or £9.60 at Codfellas, Stanhope Road, Jarrow.
Although curry overtook fish and chips as the UK's favourite takeaway in 1997, 80% of Brits still visit a fish and chip shop every year, buying 382 million meals between them.
Fish and chips were first served together in 1860, with families in both London and Mossley, near Leeds, laying claim to have started the trend.
By 1910 there were perhaps 25,000 fish and chip shops around the country, peaking at 35,000 by 1927. Fish and chips were not rationed during either world war, and most industrial towns boasted a fish and chip shop on almost every street.
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