A FISH and chip shop in Winchester has closed after only seven months of service with the owner saying demand was too low.

The Bona Fides chippy on Andover Road, which replaced the Chinese takeaway Oriental Star, shut its doors around a month ago.

Owner Sayem Kabir, who opened the business in June, pointed to the popularity of fish and chips compared to the big variety of takeaways available as one of the reasons for the closure.

He said: “It was two causes really, one of them is the fact that I think the takeaway industry is going through a massive reshuffle. I mean fish and chips, how many people really want it?

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“If you go on JustEat or Deliveroo, you come across all these different types of glamorous food, all different colours. There is just so much choice across the takeaway industry, that I think fish and chips is quite low down the pecking order.”

“Most people like to see what they eat, look good on Instagram and social media.

“The consumers who drive the takeaway industry are mostly aged between 18 and 28, and if the food looks good with a nice red sauce and a bit of spring onion on top, compared to a plate of spuds and fish that’s just battered. People like to eat what looks good now, as well as tastes good.”

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While saying that the cost-of-living crisis with utility and energy bills increasing was certainly an issue, he stated that many businesses are still doing fine due to a good enough volume of orders.

With the boom of takeaways during Covid, Kabir said many people came in and saturated the market with warehouse-based takeaways.

He said: “A lot of these businesses realised that they don’t actually need a shopfront. They rented cheap warehouses, doing chicken, burgers and pizza deliveries from a single kitchen. 

“Compare their profit margin to people like me on the high street, where I’ve got to pay business rates and my rent is much higher.

“I think a lot of fish and chips are making money just from the profit margin, where potatoes and fish are so cheap. I don’t think they’re making money through a high volume of orders like other takeaways are.”

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Kabir, who is now focused on his other businesses, said he’d like a return to running a takeaway in the future and agreed with the assessment that the time of opening the business was unfortunate.

He said: “We opened in the middle of July, just after lockdown, it was one of the hottest summers that we ever had and people were struggling with their money at the time, scared to spend money.

“I did open the business at the wrong time, and I accept that. I don’t know if it would have been different at another time, I don’t have that experience. This was the first time opening a business that failed, so I have lots to learn.”