Manchester's first fully vegan fish and chip shop has announced its sudden closure - just over a year after opening in the city centre - leaving customers "gutted". JJ Vish and Chips had opened as a takeaway in Manchester in February 2021, after having success with its first venture in Leeds for three years.
It offered an entirely plant-based menu, including battered "tofish" with chips as well as vegan twists on scampi, calamari, battered sausages and chicken nuggets. It had opened to huge acclaim here in the city, with vegan diners raving about the range on offer at the venue at its Levenshulme takeaway.
But now JJ's owner Jess Jones has made an emotional statement on her social media accounts announcing the immediate closure of the Manchester and Leeds takeaways. In it she said: "It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to close our doors.
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"As you can imagine, this has not been an easy decision but it's a necessary one due to numerous factors. We’ve been hit with massive delivery platform fees, rising costs of oil, utilities, fuel, stock and more.
"Added to this, the impact of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis has understandably changed customers’ ordering habits. We didn’t want to keep increasing our prices beyond what we believe is reasonable.
"We have enjoyed serving the people of Leeds for just over three years and Manchester for a year and a half. It has been a rollercoaster of a journey with many things thrown at us as a new independent business. But it has also been an incredible journey too thanks to the loyalty and kindness of our amazing customers.
"I personally want to thank my family and friends who supported me with my somewhat mad idea at the beginning of 2019 and continued to do so throughout. A massive thanks goes to every single member of staff that has worked at JJs. I couldn’t have done it without you!"
Jess signed off with the positive message that she hoped the business could carry on in some form in the future. She wrote: "Hopefully, this is not a goodbye but a ‘see you later.’"
There was an emotional outpouring to the message - with customers saying they were gutted to hear the news about the "amazing chippy".
Instagram user @inyourfur said: "Aw noooo, so gutted for you. I've been to your Manchester one a few times. We all hope to see you reopen in the future. Amazing chippy." @Hey_Its_Kazuto said: "Nooo we love your food and order all the time."
Tremaine King posted: "NO please please please no!! Is there nothing at all your customers can do? We drive from the city centre to get vish from you its the best takeaway around legit this breaks my heart."
When it first launched in Manchester, owner Jess told the MEN about her big hopes for the venture. JJ's Vish and Chips used ingredients like marinated banana blossom, and tofu with nori sheets to create a convincingly fishy taste and texture and they also created desserts - including battered, deep-fried Oreos with chocolate sauce.
Jess said at the time: "A lot of fish and chip shops cook their chips in beef dripping, so you can't even get chips as a vegetarian or a vegan. I try to make it as like-for-like as I can as a traditional chip shop, just with a twist that there's no meat and no fish."
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