Business is booming as customers queue round the block for Northampton award-winning chippy

Soaring temperatures didn’t deter loyal customers from queuing up outside a popular chippy in Northampton that reopened this week
By Sarah Becker and Carly Roberts
Published 23rd May 2020, 06:00 BST
Boss Nick Panayis pictured with team member Hollie Goldson. Picture taken by Kirsty Edmonds pre-lockdown as they accepted the Chronicle's award in 2019 for the best town chippy.Boss Nick Panayis pictured with team member Hollie Goldson. Picture taken by Kirsty Edmonds pre-lockdown as they accepted the Chronicle's award in 2019 for the best town chippy.
Boss Nick Panayis pictured with team member Hollie Goldson. Picture taken by Kirsty Edmonds pre-lockdown as they accepted the Chronicle's award in 2019 for the best town chippy.

The winner of the Northampton Chronicle & Echo’s Chippy of the Year award 2019, Nick’s Plaice, reopened this week much to the delight of Kingsley.

Owner Nick Panayis closed the shop on Kingsley Park Terrace ten weeks ago when the lockdown was announced for the safety of staff and customers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The shop reopened on Monday, May 18 and that evening customers were queuing outside the shop along Kingsley Park Terrace as far as The White Elephant pub – with social distancing measures in place.

If your business would like to be featured as part of the 'Your Town Needs You' campaign please email our reporter Carly on carly.roberts@jpimedia.co.uk.If your business would like to be featured as part of the 'Your Town Needs You' campaign please email our reporter Carly on carly.roberts@jpimedia.co.uk.
If your business would like to be featured as part of the 'Your Town Needs You' campaign please email our reporter Carly on [email protected].

Nick Panayis said: “We’ve only been open six days but business is booming already. Some customers who would come in once a week have been in every day since we reopened.

"You would not believe how busy we've been, we ran out of fish on Monday at 8pm, I had to say 'we've only got burgers and pies left' until 9pm when we closed. It's been phenomenal.

"Customers were commenting on how much they had missed us. It was as if they hadn’t had fish and chips in years – they said they had missed us, the service, the food.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Nick’s Plaice is restricting customer numbers inside the shop to two at any one time and ensuring social distancing is adhered to in the queue outside.

Nick pictured with Holly back in 2019 after receiving the good news that they were voted the most popular chippy by readers.Nick pictured with Holly back in 2019 after receiving the good news that they were voted the most popular chippy by readers.
Nick pictured with Holly back in 2019 after receiving the good news that they were voted the most popular chippy by readers.

They have also put screens up in the shop and staff Charlotte White, Hollie Goldson and Nick Panayis wear gloves to serve customers.

Nick is also planning on introducing meat onto the menu – in particular steak. He added: “I am working on introducing rib eye, sirloin steak and pork chops onto the already hugely popular fish menu.

"Soon we will be offering our customers charcoal grilled steaks, which they can wash down with alcoholic drinks of their choice as I’ve also recently obtained an alcohol licence.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He puts the popularity of his shop down to the freshest ingredients, homemade sauces, fantastic staff and winning the all important Chron award.

He added: "Since I won the Chron award it's been the best five months since I've been here for ten years.

"We are really happy to be back at work and really missed our customers.

"We would like to say thank you to the wonderful people of Northampton."

Related topics:BusinessNorthampton

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.