Cleethorpes eatery is in line for another top award

GRAB your seat at The Captain's Table!

The Cleethorpes restaurant has been recognised as one of the UK's best independent fish and chip restaurants as part of The National Fish & Chip Awards 2014, organised by Seafish.

Owned by John Hancock, the fish and chip restaurant will now fry off against 13 other semi-finalists.

The restaurants are vying to become one of three finalists following a further round of judging which will include mystery shop visits.

Finalists will be announced in September, and invited to a glitzy awards ceremony to be held in London in January, at which the overall winner will be crowned.

Mr Hancock said: "Of course, we're delighted to get through to this stage of the competition. We've worked extremely hard to bring the restaurant up to the standard that it's at today and nominations such as this prove that we've done a good job.

"Our focus is on using the best quality fish we can, from our own vessels, something I don't think any other restaurant in the UK can say, which makes us quite unique in that respect."

It recently won a Trip Advisor award.

Sponsored by Goldensheaf, the latest award recognises the UK's best independent fish and chip restaurants, focusing on all aspects of running such a business, including the premises, product, staff, customer service, marketing and promotion.

This year's judging panel had a very difficult task on their hands. A spokesperson for the judging panel said: "The National Fish & Chip Awards is a fiercely contested competition so reaching the semi-final is a great achievement.

"The category this year has been extremely competitive. The standards and quality displayed by the UK's fish and chip restaurants has never been higher so we're very excited to see who progresses into the top three. The 14 restaurants in the running will no doubt be upping their game in the coming months as final judging looms."

Paul Williams, CEO of Seafish, said: "These businesses have been recognised for their highly professional attitude and their commitment to a sustainable future for the industry."