THE Corner Fish and Chip Shop battered the competition in the Guardian's quest to find out Winsford and Middlewich residents' favourite chippy.

The Winsford and Middlewich Guardian Facebook page was flooded with comments earlier this month as we launched the search for residents' favourite chippy.

Four contenders emerged to duke it out for the coveted crown – The Corner Fish and Chip Shop and Foodcraft in Winsford, and Kings Lock and Middlewich Fryer in Middlewich.

“I just thought, ‘let the best man win’,”Annmarie Curzon, owner of The Corner Fish and Chip Shop, said.

The two Winsford chippies quickly pulled away from their Middlewich rivals.

The rival chippies fought neck and neck, but it was The Corner Fish and Chip Shop that emerged victorious in first plaice, securing 33 per cent of the vote.

Annmarie and her husband bought The Corner Fish and Chip Shop, based in Princess Street, in 2008, having worked for the previous owners.

She told the Guardian the chippy’s popularly is down to three simple things – fair prices, quality food and friendly customer service.

“We’re very thankful for the past eight years that our customers have stayed loyal and carried on coming even though it changed hands,” Annmarie.

“We don’t have bad customers. I don’t think we’ve ever had a bad customer, never. I know a lot of them, what they have, what they like and I know a lot of them by name.

“We’re extremely grateful to have them.”

The Winsford chippy has been around since 1955 and has built up a fiercely loyal customer-base, and this has continued under the new owners.

The Corner Fish and Chip Shop is unabashedly traditional in its approach, and that’s part of the reason their customers come back time after time.

You won’t find a whiff of haddock or any other popular alternatives that have emerged over the years due to the rising cost of cod.

“The price margins of fish is expensive,” Annmarie said. “But we manage to make a profit and make a living and we’ve been here eight years.

“We don’t make an awful lot on it, but we make enough. It’s what people know. We’ve always sold cod here.

“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”