There has been an outpouring of support after one of the city's best loved fish and chip shops revealed it was having to close the doors of one of its stores.
Byrnes has been feeding its loyal customers since it opened in 1932 on Stuart Road, Walton. The immensely popular chippy, opened a second, larger site on Muirhead Avenue East on the border of Norris Green and West Derby in 2019.
However, Byrnes has announced it is having to sell off its second location due to rising costs and business rates. Since the news broke, ECHO readers on social media have come out in support for the "best chippy around".
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Deborah Rock said: "Best chippy in Liverpool. Our family loved it, and when I moved I travelled back to it. My mum and her family also loved it. Steamy windows as we ate it. Remember after a day in New Brighton my mum got some for her uncle who was unwell and ‘fancied a fish!’ Well done-excellent business"
Susan Ryan said: Hope they can hold on to Stuart Road - many fond memories of going there right through the 60s when we lived in that area." Gail Cliff said: "The chippy is busy all day long the best around. Their roots are from Stuart Road they have fed the homeless on many occasions. The family is amazing."
Lizzie Lou said: "That chippy is fantastic my mum and family are from Liverpool, so every time I come to visit I always get my fish and chips from there."
The owners hope customers will move from Muirhead Avenue to the original Stuart Road branch, which was first opened in 1932 by Joseph Byrne. Joseph's grandson David Dickson, his wife Barbara and their two sons now run the business.
Explaining why they have made the painful decision to put their second site up for sale, Barbara said: "Everything has gone up. Oil went from £9 a box to £22.50 a box. We can't keep putting prices up, it's ridiculous. It doesn't matter how good your product is, if people can't afford it they can't - that's why we have to lower our overheads."
Barbara, 61, and her family are battling a perfect storm of soaring wholesale costs and spiralling energy bills - and next year the business rates the family are charged for the two sites will come in at £7,000.
She continued: "It's just really, really, really sad. If we didn't close Muirhead Avenue then they would both go, if we do sell it, we should save this one."
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