AN ILKLEY chippy is in the running to be judged the oldest in the UK.

North Parade Fisheries, which dates back at least 112 years, has been entered into a competition by the National Federation of Fish Fryers to find the oldest fish and chip shop.

The federation launched its search after the closure of a Yeadon shop, called ‘The Oldest Fish and Chip Shop in the World’, which opened in 1865.

North Parade Fisheries owners Hayley and Jonathan Hunt have evidence that their shop was the home of a fried fish dealer in 1908.The couple have been tracing the history of their premises since they took it over more than 22 years ago.

After turning to the West Yorkshire Archive Service initially, they believed the business was established in 1933 - but a customer produced evidence to the contrary. A copy of Robinsons Directory dated 1909, showed J W Pollard, fried fish dealer at 1 North Parade. Hayley and Jonathan then enlisted the help of local historian Alex Cockshott, to help them uncover more information. She traced a 1908 directory with the same details

Speaking in 2014 after that discovery Hayley said:“Our original thought was that J W Pollard bought the shop in 1904 and ran it as a grocers, until 1908 when he changed it into a fish and chip shop, but it is also detailed in the 1909 Robinsons Directory that J W Pollard had a grocers at the junction of Wellington Road and Little Lane. As North Parade runs off Little Lane it would not seem likely for the same person to have two grocer’s shops in such close proximity.

“We have therefore come to the conclusion that J W Pollard bought the shop in 1904, his occupation being a grocer, but opened the shop as a fish and chip shop. Thus making North Parade Fisheries 110-years-old this year. We had not thought that this was going to be the situation when we first started the investigation. This places the shop even older than Harry Ramsden’s, which was established in 1928. “

After entering the competition Hayley said: “There is a lot of heritage and history in this shop.”