Frenzied fryers at The Big Fish sold 1,000 pieces of cod in five hours in a £1-a-serving sellout session to thank customers who helped them become the area’s best.
Alex Stylianou, 33, and his team at the Summerfields-based chippy made a loss when they flogged fish and chips for a quid to customers who queued out the door.
It was a gesture for the regulars who voted the chip shop into the Seafish competition, in which they were named winners for the Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire area.
And with a normal price of £4.60-a-serving the mass cook-off cost the chippy boss thousands of pounds.
But he says it was worth it.
Dad of two Alex said: "We made a loss but that wasn’t what it was about. The day was a thank-you to our customers and it felt great. There were so many people and when we were getting through the queues it was amazing, a r eal buzz."
The day started at 1pm and by tea-time there was no more cod. But Alex kept serving sausage and pie and chips for as long as he could, not wanting to disappoint any customers.
And even the last few in the queue got a voucher to use on cut-price fodder later in the week.
The six-strong team included Alex’s uncle Michael Stylianou - the man who Alex says ‘taught him all he knows’ - who was filleting fish out the back.
Alex, who started work with his uncle in his Handforth chip shop as a 15 year old "spud lad", added: "We were a great team and might start doing it once a year.
"I wanted to keep the door open for as long as possible and make sure everyone who came down got some food. I want to thank my staff for their support."
