MANY restaurants and cafés these days like to specialise in one style of food or another.

One-such is Banny’s, basically the first building you come to when the M65 runs out in Colne.

As part of the Boundary Mill operation, it has to cope with large numbers on a daily basis - coach trips make a beeline to the place and all those shoppers need feeding.

But don’t let that put you off - it’s not just geared up for mass catering. The restaurant has two separate dining areas so although it can be busy, you should find yourself a table.

At the opposite end of the car park from the retail outlet, Banny’s has a large open reception area dominated by a cylindrical fish tank which delights younger visitors but which, given the nature of the menu, I found a bit disturbing. And no, you don’t make your selection from the tank.

The restaurant itself is decorated in what designers would probably call beach hut chic, dark blue paintwork contrasting with the bleached white woodwork and lots of decorative nick nacks ranging from paintings of lighthouses to giant lampshades made to look like upturned fishing boats.

It sounds kitsch but actually it’s quite effective and you soon forget that there’s a motorway just a couple of hundred yards away.

So, what to have? Banny’s classes itself as primarily a fish and chip restaurant and therefore the menu naturally has a distinctly fishy bias to it.

It doesn’t offer the biggest choice - although you can opt for a couple of non fish dishes including jumbo hot dogs.

However, we decided to stick with the specialities. Initially I was tempted by the intriguing sounding Indian fish and chips but ultimately went for the smoked haddock fishcakes (£7.95). The better half meanwhile opted for Banny’s signature haddock burger (£8.95).

Service was friendly and speedy and after an acceptable wait our dishes arrived.

Both looked good which is always a good start. The fish cakes came with a bowl of chip shop-style chips and were sat on a bed of salad. There was also a large ‘swoosh’ of what I think was Marie Rose sauce on the plate.

It may have looked arty but to be honest I would have much prepared a decent dollop of tartare sauce.

There was a decent amount of chips, certainly enough for all but the heartiest of appetites, and they did have the genuine chip shop look and taste about them.

The fish cakes themselves had a golden, crisp coating - maybe a little overdone for some, but I quite liked it. Inside there were flakes of haddock but it did tend to be overpowered somewhat by the cheesy/potatoey filling. That said, they were very tasty.

The better half’s burger - basically Banny’s version of an arch rival’s fillet ‘o fish - was a thing to behold. A large piece of fish inside a bun with salad and even a slice of cheese plus the obligatory basket of chips.

Puddings are available, including what looked like a brick-sized sticky toffee pudding but we were full and had to concede defeat.

Given the number of meals Banny’s must deal with on a daily basis, the quality is pretty decent and although basically a posh fish and chip shop it does feel very different to most establishments.

The M65 was once described as the road to nowhere. After this visit, it would appear it now has somewhere to take you to.