The Anstruther Fish Bar is a

fish and chip Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

shop in

Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther ...

, a fishing village in the

East Neuk of Fife The East Neuk () or East Neuk of Fife is an area of the coast of Fife, Scotland. "Neuk" is the Scots word for nook or corner, and the East Neuk is generally accepted to comprise the fishing villages of the most northerly part of the Firth of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History

The Bar is situated on Shore Street, the harbour front in Anstruther, and is particularly popular with tourists. It sells

take-away A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

fish and chips, which are often consumed at the public seating area opposite the shop, where local fishermen land crab and lobster. Unlike many Scottish fish and chip shops, it also has a restaurant; the Bar is nautically themed with 52 seats and views over the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

. It also hosts an

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

parlour and sweet shop and employs over fifty staff. The most popular order is haddock and chips although hake, halibut and lemon sole are also served. It has served

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educat ...

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

, Tim Hinkley and

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

. Since 2003, the shop has been operated by Argo Fish, a small local firm owned by Robert and Alison Smith of

St Monans ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. The owners work "hands on" in the restaurant, employing their two sons and almost 60 staff.

Awards

The Anstruther Fish Bar has won the ‘Best Fish and Chip Shop’ in Scotland accolade on four occasions. It was also named ‘Café of the Year 2005’ for Scotland by Les Routiers and won the Seafish Friers Award for Excellence every year between 1996 and 2006. In 2007, it was second in the U.K. 'Fish Shop of the Year' competition, described by the owner as "the Oscars" of the industry. In 2009 it finally won the competition, beating 1,000 competitors to become UK Fish & Chip Shop of the Year. Alison Smith, the owner, said: "Claiming the national title has always been our ambition, it's the ultimate goal in our industry. The title is a great reward for our hard-working staff and a great way of reminding our customers and fans throughout the UK where to buy the best fish and chips." In 2007, it was one of the six Scottish finalist in

UKTV Food Good Food was a cookery channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, latterly as part of the Discovery, Inc. network of channels. The channel originally launched on 5 November 2001 and relaunched in its final format on 22 June 2009 ...

's "Local Food Hero", assessed by celebrity chef

Gary Rhodes Gary Rhodes (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019) was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as ''MasterChef'', ''Mast ...

. The Anstruther Fish Bar has also featured in national television programmes such as 'Scottish Passport', 'The Holiday Programme', 'Scotland's Larder' as well as

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...

. It has also enjoyed international recognition. In 2004, 'Talking Island Productions' produced a feature on the business for Japanese television, and part of an episode of 'The Wandering Golfer' for 'The Fine Living Channel' (USA) was filmed from the kitchen and restaurant of the Fish Bar. It also featured in American Magazine ''Bon Appetit''.Visit Scotland
(Scottish National Tourist Board) official site (URL accessed 3/05/07)

References

Feature in VisitScotland.com
{dead link, date=October 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes *"Chippy to the stars lands UK Award", Daily Record, 25 January 2007

External links

Official website
Buildings and structures in Fife Fast-food seafood restaurants Fish and chip restaurants Ice cream parlors Tourist attractions in Fife Anstruther

History

Awards

See also

References

External links