Fish and chips is London’s quintessential street food. It originated with the fried fish sold by Sephardic Jews in the seventeenth century, before being refined over the centuries into the golden, battered, crispy delight we know and love today. Traditionally, it involved cod, which used to be as cheap as, well, chips. But these days, dwindling stocks of the fish mean that London's fryers are getting creative: you’ll find halibut, hake, calamari and more on many chip shop menus.
When done well, fish and chips is a stodgy godsend, ready to be drenched in salt and vinegar, and dipped into a delicious pot of mushy peas. When it’s bad, it’s just a load of beige. So let’s take the element of risk out of it. Here are the best places to get your fry on in London.
RECOMMENDED: London’s best seafood restaurants.
Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.
Keenly upholding a singular British tradition, this spotless Brixton chippy gets everything right: each piece of fish is delicately battered, chips are pleasingly thick and delightful staff treat everyone like lifelong friends. Eat in or takeaway from a menu packed with the usual suspects – from cod, rock, skate and plaice to pies (including Jamaican patties), battered sausages, burgers and chicken.
A true classic of the London fish ’n’ chip scene, The Seashell of Lisson Grove is something of a chippy celebrity. It attracts a fair few of them too, with everyone from Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga to Liza Minnelli and Stevie Wonder sampling its oceanic goodness over the years. It’s been at its current location since 1964 but has been serving since before WWII. Taste a bit of history.
Masters Superfish is something of a south London institution – a canteen-like room packed with personality serving many types of fish straight from Billingsgate. Fried whitebait was a seemingly bottomless pile of non-battered, crispy little fish with a squeeze of lemon. Mushy peas were as they should be – piping hot and full of texture and sweetness.
You'll find Ken's Fish Bar somewhere in the south London hinterlands between Dulwich and Herne Hill. A local legend since 1984, the family-run Ken's rose to global fame after a spot on Somebody Feed Phil. Come here for fluffy chips and crisply battered cod.
A family business tucked in a shopping precinct on a housing estate is worth shouting about. This long-standing restaurant still has the soul of a fish ’n’ chip shop – despite serving treats like oysters and lobster at smartly clothed tables in a bright, modern room. The quality is outstanding and, for the prices, seems almost too good to be true. Nothing is fancy (bread is a buttered roll, napkins are paper), but nearly everything is nicely done.
An old-school fish ’n’ chip restaurant on Kingsland Road, Faulkners was founded in the early 1980s and has been a local staple ever since. A sit-down joint, you can also enjoy Turkish snacks here too, with gozleme, lahmacun, and falafel and halloumi wraps on the menu alongside cod, skate and halibut.
Basic chip-shop batter is off the menu at Nautilus – everything is coated in matzo meal, fried in matzo meal and egg, or grilled. No worries, because this no-frills outfit is renowned for the sheer quality and freshness of its output. Servings are generous, with fish overlapping the plate and just enough room for the chips. The chippy is open all day, which makes for a smart choice for a family supper with the kids (there are mini portions too).
Covent Garden’s Rock & Sole Plaice is a bona fide fish ’n’ chip legend, as well as being the best-named chippy in town – quite something in a pun-heavy field. It’s been dishing up some of the city’s most-loved fried fare from its Endell Street shop since 1871 – two world wars and modish food fads be damned. The current owners claim their chips are the biggest in the country, making a point of frying them in peanut oil. You’ll find tourists and workers alike queueing up for the big portions dished up at this old favourite.
The Mayfair Chippy is in the middle of London's fanciest neighbourhood, surrounded by bank-breaking restaurants and high-end stores. It pays tribute to British fast food institutions with black and white chequerboard floors and high bar seating as well as booths. It’s also vegan- and veggie-friendly, with to-fish and fried halloumi options alongside classic cod, haddock and scampi options.
Sutton & Sons is a London fishmonger of repute, so freshness is guaranteed at this high-end chippy across the road from its Stoke Newington shop. In addition to the usual battered suspects, hungry locals are rewarded with freshly shucked oysters and moules marinière, while Mrs Sutton’s homemade cakes and local brewed beer are further reasons to be cheerful. There’s also a full menu of plant-based imitations involving everything from banana blossom to Japanese potato starch. Branches in Hackney and Islington.
A real-deal chippy, The Fryer’s Delight has been serving London well since 1962. It may look like a London cabbie’s hole-up (formica-topped tables, long benches, old-school menu), but fans come from far and wide to sample its battered cod, rock, skate, saveloys, fishcakes and pies with mushy peas and ‘wallies’ (gherkins). Owner Osvaldo ‘Ozzie’ Bartolo is particularly proud of his chips, which are thick cut (about 18mm) and fried in beef dripping.
Nostalgia rules at this Spitalfields chippy, which comes decked out with a pick ’n’ mix assortment of British kitsch (a jukebox, newspaper cuttings, model aeroplanes, wartime memorabilia). It may look like some fantasy trip, but there’s nothing make-believe about the food: fish comes fresh from Billingsgate each morning (have it fried or grilled), and the menu encompasses everything from jellied eels to hot seafood platters. Poppies also has outlets in Soho and Camden.
In 2024, the Golden Hind celebrated 110 years’ service as a trusty purveyor of fish ’n’ chips to the people of Marylebone. Every detail is spot-on here, from the grease-free batter and chunky chips to the well-seasoned mushy peas – not forgetting a choice of fish that runs from fried cod, haddock and ‘rock’ to steamed plaice and salmon. There’s booze in the house too.
A real one-off, this wood-panelled Muswell Hill chippy bears all the hallmarks of a long-running family business that knows what it’s doing. Not much has changed here since the place opened in 1968, although using traceable, sustainably sourced fish is a sure sign that Toff’s has its finger on the pulse. Everything is battered, fried or grilled to order – be it skate, rock eel, halibut or sea bass. There’s fish soup to start, and spotted dick to finish.
An unexpected gem in Harrow, the Every Fish Bar was spotted by industry experts Fry magazine. Owned by Mohammed Gbadamosi, this place does the traditional stuff (with fish sourced from Billingsgate) but also fusion Caribbean and African cuisine featuring jerk flavours and joloff rice.
Forget the chain upstarts around Oxford Circus and head towards Soho for some proper old-fashioned fish ’n’ chips. Golden Union looks like a cross between a retro chippy and a breezy American diner (complete with jukebox) but its approach to beer-battered, sustainably sourced fish is bang on-trend. Provenance is king here and everything is cooked to crispy perfection, while puds include soft-scoop ice-cream sundaes. Our advice: drop by for a slap-up dinner – and commandeer that jukebox while you wait.
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