An award-winning Lanarkshire chippie is flying the flag for Scotland on a major new BBC programme.
Tony’s chip shop owner Hugh Innes and manager William Limerick took on the challenge of competing in Britain’s Top Takeaways, and will feature in the first episode of the series this Monday.
Viewers will see them take on four other teams as each races to complete orders from their own specially developed “funky menu” and impress customers who receive a home delivery and then eat and rate the food.
The Tony’s team were first approached last year about taking part in the programme, which is presented by Sara Cox and Darren Harriot with each episode focusing on a different type of takeaway treat.
With each being asked to serve up a classic dish, chef’s special, vegetarian option and sides, the Coatbridge duo cooked up a storm including the Shawhead shop’s popular “one and one” supper, consisting of one battered and one breaded fish.
Their menu to tempt the tastebuds also featured a fish fritter, featuring haddock sandwiched between potato; a pea fritter; homemade coleslaw and tartar sauces – and an eye-catching roll with chips and curry sauce, all then battered and deep fried.
Hugh told Lanarkshire Live: “They’re things we’ve sometimes done on and off but aren’t things we normally serve in the shop; we worked on some special creations as we needed to make a combination of traditional and other things.
“We wanted to do our best for the show and people thought our menu was completely different; they don’t really have breaded fish so much in England and they don’t do things like fried pies or pizza crunches.
“It was a great day when we were all cooking in the kitchen unit for the show and it was really hectic as there were orders coming through every 20 minutes or so and we were constant with cooking, preparing, hand-cutting the chips, so it was really busy.
“We were doing everything live and it was a great challenge being out of our comfort zone; being able to cook on primetime national TV is incredible and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do for 40 years in the industry.
“Sara Cox is a lovely person and Darren Harriot is a really funny guy; they were amazing, really welcoming and were doing their best to talk to us and keep us calm when there were 20 cameras all round about!
“It was an amazing experience – we met some great people who are very passionate about the industry and what they do, and we loved every minute of being around such positive people.”
Hugh was asked to take part in the new show, featuring “some of the UK’s best-loved independent takeaways”, after impressing with the Berwick Street chippie’s growing list of recent awards.
Tony’s was included last month in the prestigious annual list of the UK’s top 50 fish and chip shops compiled by industry publication Fry Magazine for a second consecutive year, and has racked up the impressive total of eight prizes in six years.
Crews had also visited the Shawhead shop to make a short film, including speaking with the Coatbridge customers and giving Hugh an opportunity to introduce himself to the television audience with his beloved catchphrase: “We’re not here to take part, we’re here to take over.”
The delighted owner said: “It was great to be able to use our wee slogan and get it out there on TV!
“I was taken aback at first when I was contacted about going on the show as it’s such a big thing for us – but two seconds later, I thought ‘why not?’ as we thought it would be fun and it’s great for us to be the only one from Scotland, competing with the best in the UK.
“This is something really happy and positive, at a time when the fish and chip industry is going through difficult time due to price increases, margins and product availability; this gives a shot in the arm and can only help, and it’s been an amazing thing to be part of.”
Hugh and William will feature in the new programme’s first episode, which will be shown on Monday, May 9, at 8pm on BBC2.
The show then continues with nightly episodes throughout the week, and will also be available on iPlayer.
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