6:55am Tuesday 31st October 2006
By Lucy Clapham
FISH and chip fryers in High Wycombe are feeling the heat as the price of spuds and cod are on the rise.
Chippies up and down the country are being forced to hike up their prices after a poor potato crop and an increase in the cost of fresh fish.
Jevan Kumar, who owns Tummy Fillers on London Road, currently charges £4.30 for a medium cod and chips. He said the price of his fish had gone up by 40 per cent.
He added: "Potatoes have been the dearest they have been for four years. My profits have gone down. I can see it going up to £5. We haven't put our prices up - I don't know how long we are going to hold that, but we're going to for as long as possible.
"There's nothing we can do about it, just have to rely on our customers. Give them good service and good products."
But the ingredients that make up the nation's favourite dish is not the only factor affecting its price. Smaller chip shops are also being hit with bigger bills for gas and electricity.
These increases have hit Bao Wong, who runs Chips King on Amersham Hill with her husband. Since last year she has had to add 20 pence to a regular portion of cod and chips, bringing it up to £3.70.
She said: "We have had to go up because the price of the gas we use. That's gone up about 80 per cent."
Bao said spud prices had been rocketing since the summer and the cost of fish has also flipped off the scale. She now pays more than £2 for a pound of cod.
She added: "I have been serving fish and chips since 1993, compared with that it's gone up quite a bit. I'm not sure whether they'll be coming down."
Nicos Vassiliou, who owns Michael's Fish Bar in Totteridge Road, has managed to keep a small portion of cod and chips at £3.35, and wants to keep it that way.
He said: "Potatoes have gone a little bit up in price but I hope they don't go up to ridiculous prices. I don't know what happened, it's the market. I'm not the person who controls the markets."
Despite the hike in prices, the UK's most famous dish is still in high demand with sales topping the 300 million mark this year. And the traditional chippy is beating its take away rivals with more than 8,500 fish shops in the country.
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