Eating in Blackpool

Seniors Fish Restaurant Blackpool

The Cottage Fish and Chip Shop

Alessandro and Aydan at Caffé Latino Blackpool

Tart at Caffé Latino Blackpool

Gastronomy in Blackpool
O.K., Blackpool does not boast any Michelin starred restaurants, but it does have a wide selection of different eating establishments.
Historically, Blackpool grew from its ability and willingness to cater at mass market prices for mill workers from the industrial North of England. With the advent of cheap air travel and package holidays, Blackpool's previous niche market shrank, and it has had to adapt. One common factor it has retained is its value for money.

Environs
The Fylde Coast area surrounding Blackpool is also rich in a variety of restaurants, so if you can't find what you want in town, there is a great choice just outside.

Fish And Chips
Over the years, many people have asked for a recommendation for a good fish and chip shop in Blackpool. As a young lad, I could never understand this, as all fish and chip shops were more or less the same. Some years later, I happened to eat fish and chips elsewhere, despite a warning the the local chip shop was not great. This was a moment of revelation, there were such things a bad fish and chip shops, and this set me wondering why there were no bad ones in Blackpool. The answer was quite simple, competition. If a bad or even mediocre fish and ship shops ever opened in Blackpool, it would soon close down. It is possible that in the more touristy areas, one or two average quality chip shops manage to survive, but this applies to any tourist areas, and any other town. For those interested, the worst chip shop we experienced was in Chester. Its best chip shop served food that we gave up on, it was not worth eating, although it may now have a better chip shop. London is another place where it's hard to find a good chip shop. There is always Wheeler's, which is good, but very expensive compared with a northern chippie, and we did once manage to fins a decent chip shop in London, but even the locals agreed that it was a rarity in the capital.
So where would we recommend for fish and chips in Blackpool?

• Senior's
  We were pleasantly surprised to see that Senior's has been described as the second best fish restaurant in Britain, although we could not find where the best one is supposed to be. Senior's has probably been Balckpool's best fish restaurant for many years, but a few years ago now, it changed hands, and got even better! It is also licensed.
• The Cottage
  Long regarded by many as the best chip shop in Blackpool, now that Senior's has gone upmarket, we reckon The Cottage only hold second place, although we must admit to not having sample it for some time now. Why eat at the second best when you can eat at the very best?
  One of its longstanding virtues has been its selection of different fish, and different sizes.
  Whole writing this we noticed from its website that it is under the same ownership as Whelan's in Lytham, another award winning fish restaurant, also acclaimed by Rick Stein and Gordon Ramsay, amongst others. We must go and try both!

Caffé Latino