Seaside fish and chip shops are a national treasure. Here are 20 of the best

It’s one of the UK’s favourite dishes and it always tastes better with a big portion of sea air

It would be grossly unfair to the many fabulous chippies located inland in this country to say that all the best places for fish and chips in the UK are down by the sea. There are many brilliant practitioners of the noble craft of deep frying all over the United Kingdom. But in the matter of our national dish, there’s no doubt that context matters; that the virtuous interplay of battered white fish and fried potatoes simply tastes better eaten at the seaside, ideally from within an unwrapped present of white paper, rendered translucent in places by a smear of hot oil from the gift within.

Forget tables. Forget chairs. You need to be on the beach itself or, at a push, perched on a sea wall, with a view out over British waters the colour of a day-old bruise, rippling away to the horizon under gunmetal skies. You unwrap and immediately receive a gust of hot, captured air that smells of all the good things in life. The very warmth of it feels like a reassuring challenge to the chill winds coming off the sea. Your supper is looking after you.