Wales Has The UK’s Cheapest Seaside Towns for Fish & Chips

WELSH TOWNS BEST FOR BUDGET-FRIENDLY FISH & CHIPS AND ’99 ICE CREAMS

• A new study of UK’s coastal towns reveals Wales is best for foodies on a budget who want nostalgic classics
• Wales offers the cheapest fish and chips, with Aberystwyth coming out as best value
• Cornwall’s towns charge the most for ’99 cones and fish and chips

July 2021: New research from Premier Inn has revealed where in the UK is cheapest (and most expensive) to buy tasty seaside treats, such as fish ‘n’ chips and ’99 ice-creams.

Welsh towns, particularly Aberystwyth, Swansea, Llandudndo and Porthcrawl came out as the cheapest for a fish and chip supper, with town averages of £7.50 for a large portion.  The cheapest individual towns for a creamy ice cold ’99 came out as Weston-super-Mare and Southwold in Suffolk, at an average of £1.40 each.

With so much of the country enjoying a coastal break in the UK this year, the UK’s biggest hotel brand wanted to find which regions and towns in the UK were most budget-friendly for sampling the classic seaside fare of fish and chips, as well as other retro-treats like the ’99 ice cream and a hot bag of doughnuts.

The most expensive region for the seaside treats was Cornwall, with places like Padstow, Fowey and St. Mawes charging around £13 for a large portion of take-away fish and chips. Cornish towns also came out in the most expensive rankings for a ’99 ice cream, with Falmouth and Newquay charging on average £3.00 for the treat.

When looking at a UK average, the study from Premier Inn revealed a large cod and chips take-away in the UK will set you back £9.60; and you’ll need roughly £2.35 for an ice cream cone with a flake, with a bag of hot doughnuts averages out at £2.50.

The study involved contacting over 500 independent stalls, kiosks and take-aways in over 100 of the country’s most popular seaside towns, recording the price of a large portion of fish and chips (cod or haddock where available), the price of a ’99 ice-cream cone (either Mr. Whippy soft serve or a single scoop alternative, with one chocolate flake) and the price of a hot bag of sugared doughnuts (typically 3-5 in a serving).

The UK’s Cheapest Seaside Towns for Fish and Chips

The UK’s Most Expensive Seaside Towns for Fish and Chips

Welsh seaside towns were found to be the cheapest for fish and chips, costing £2 less on average than the UK at just £7.50 for a large portion (with one chippy in Aberystwyth even offering the seaside dinner for under £6.50). But there are a few other beach towns outside of Wales where you can pick up a large fish and chips take-away for under £7.50, including Filey in North Yorkshire, Skegness, and New Brighton in Merseyside.

At the other end of the spectrum, the most expensive prices for a fish and chip supper were found in Cornwall, whose eateries charge nearly £2 more than the UK average at £11.50, followed by North Eastern coastal towns who typically charge £11.10 for the meal. Padstow in Cornwall, Salcombe in Devon and Bamburgh in Northumberland were the most expensive individual towns, with a large fish and chips tending to cost more than £13 per portion.

The UK’s Cheapest Seaside Towns for a ’99 Ice Cream Cone

The UK’s Most Expensive Seaside Towns for a ’99 Ice Cream Cone

The research showed that Yorkshire and the Humber in general is the cheapest region for an ice-cream cone (with a chocolate flake of course!) with an average price of £1.85.  Even though they attract major crowds because of their beautiful beaches, Skegness, Weston-super-Mare, Bournemouth and Swansea are among the individual seaside towns selling the lowest priced ’99 cones in the UK, with each town charging, on average, less than £1.90 for the sweet treat.

Of all the kiosks contacted by Premier Inn the most expensive for an ice-cream cone were found in the Cornish towns of Falmouth and Newquay, St. David’s in Wales and Christchurch in Dorset, whose ice-cream shops all charged on average £3 or more for a cone.

A spokesperson for Premier Inn said “Eating hot, salty fish and chips on the beach, or cooling down in the sand with a delicious creamy ’99 are integral parts of the UK holiday experience which everyone should try. We were curious to find out which coastal town offered nostalgic foodies at the most budget-friendly prices. Although some regions show a general trend for being more expensive (Cornwall) or cheaper (Wales), it’ great to see a diverse range of towns in the lists, proving you can hunt down a good deal wherever you go on holiday.”

For the full rankings, including the cheapest and most expensive towns for other seaside treats visit: https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/news/2021/coastal-treats.html