In other words, fish and chips for the British, can be described as the essence of the national existence.
According to statistics, fish and chips are the most popular hot food taken away by the British, and eighty percent of Britons say they go to fish and chip shops at least once a year and spend 382 million meals here every year.
In order to defend its favorite fish and chips, in history, britain even launched three "cod wars".
However, the recent bad news for the British is that half of the UK's fish and chip shops may be closing...
The culprit of the shutdown is the soaring price of raw materials caused by this year's Russo-Ukrainian war!!!
In protest of Russia's declaration of war on Ukraine, Britain decided to impose a 35% tariff on all seafood imported by Russia.
One-third of the most critical raw material in fish and chips, cod, comes from Russia. Russia controls up to 45 percent of the world's cod supply.
The british government imposed high tariffs, which directly led to the soaring price of cod...
To add here, although other fish can also be used to make fried fish, in the eyes of the proud British, only cod is the most traditional ingredient for making fish and chips! Lose the cod, the fish and chips lose their original flavor! Therefore, in fish and chips, cod is as indispensable as potatoes!!!
A member of the Uk's Fish and Chips Federation said that the price of cod has now risen from £8 to £14 per kilogram and that "additional tariffs have put thousands of fish and chip shops on the brink of bankruptcy".
As the price of raw materials soared, the price of fish and chips was also rising, and before a fish and chips cost only about 8.5 pounds, but now after the high tariffs are implemented, the price has risen to 11.5 pounds.
At present, there are about 10,500 fish and chip shops in the UK, and if the price of cod remains high, about half of the shops will not be able to hold on and will have no choice but to close.
The British government was thus divided into two factions, one led by Prime Minister Boris, who insisted on keeping tariffs high as punishment for Russia and firmly sided with the Ukrainian people.
The other side, on the other hand, advocates the interests of the British people, "Of course, we all want to punish Russia, but high tariffs are bound to make it more difficult for people to survive the cost of living crisis." ”
At present, because the two sides have been arguing, the British government spokesman can only temporarily and slime, saying that he will give some help to the fish and chip shop.
"Britain is going to fight alongside Ukraine, and we want to continue to increase pressure to contain the Russian economy." But we also know the importance of fish and chips to the British, one of the UK's favourite traditional foods, so we work closely with the industry to reduce the impact of high tariffs on them. ”
However, even if the British government can mitigate the impact of high tariffs, fish and chip shops will struggle to restore their former turnover, because the British restaurant industry as a whole is in the darkest hour.
According to UHY Hacker Young, 1,406 restaurants closed in the UK in the 12 months to May, up 64% from the previous year.
The reason for the closure is mainly due to the cost of living crisis and the epidemic. The epidemic has caused many restaurants in the UK to close, and the price increase caused by the energy crisis has forced customers to reduce the cost of eating out.
Leaving aside small restaurants, even chains like Byron, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Italian restaurants Strada and Carluccio's have suffered heavy losses in the crisis.
Due to the repeated blockades in the UK during the epidemic, these restaurants can only be forced to close their doors, causing serious economic losses, and some restaurant chains have been forced to close dozens of stores in order to reduce losses.
If the energy crisis continues, what will happen to the UK's restaurant industry...