ONE of Oswaldtwistle’s best loved fish and chips shops is celebrating National Fish and Chip day after a year like no other.

Westend Fish and Chips on Blackburn Road first taken over by the Regan-Hitchen family, consisting of owner and mother Lesley Regan, handyman and father Don Hitchen, their daughter shop manager Deryn and son Thomas, in November 2018.

Since then the shop has become integral to community life in the town and nothing has demonstrated this quite like 2020’s unprecedented coronavirus pandemic.

Shop manager Deryn Regan-Hitchen said: “We set about new ways of working, obviously fish and chips have always been traditional, but we’ve now got online ordering and contactless payment.

“So, in some ways it’s been beneficial, but we still had to shut for a few weeks while we worked out what we were going to do.”

Fortunately for the local community the family were able to rise to the challenge and provided a vital lifeline through some very testing times.

Ms Regan-Hitchen said: “It’s quite a close community round here so we’ve been doing a lot to support them, especially the elderly, we’ve been running deliveries for them.”

Westend Fish and Chips has also been organising a charity feed up to support East Lancashire Hospice and runs monthly feeds for homeless people, in aid of Hyndburn Helps.

Now to celebrate National Fish and Chip day the family business has launched a special offer of fish, chips and peas for just £5.00 on Friday September 4, which they will be promoting with a large mobile video van that will drive around Oswaldtwistle and neighbouring towns.

The day will be marked by fish and chip outlets across the country, with the National Federation of Fish Friers hailing the occasion as a chance to celebrate the industry after an extremely trying period.

A spokesperson said: “As well as being one of the most popular awareness days of the year, we want National Fish and Chip Day this year to be even more special as we say a very big thank you to this amazing industry who are at the centre of every community, and who have, when able to do so safely, adapted to keep us fed, and when that wasn’t possible have kept us all safe by remaining closed at great sacrifice to their business.

“All of them have shown great resilience throughout lockdown.”

Find out more about Westend Fish and Chips at https://www.westendfishandchips.co.uk/.