A North Yorkshire fish and chip business is planning to open a chippy in southern China. Owner of Scotts Fish & Chips Tony Webster has agreed a deal with a Chinese consortium to open an exact replica in the city of Chengdu.

The partnership follows Chinese social media coverage of Scotts, near York, after Mr Webster worked with Chinese national Will Zhuang, who manages the Chinese social media for Visit York and the Leeds City Region, to promote his venue to Chinese tour groups planning visits to the UK. Since then, the restaurant has been welcoming increasing numbers of Chinese customers visiting the historic city and has even translated its menu into Mandarin!

The British delicacy has gained popularity in China after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister David Cameron were seen eating fish and chips together in 2015.

Tony explained: “In 2017 the fish and chip shop had very few Chinese customers, but thanks to a focused marketing strategy a trickle became a flood.

“The connective publicity we received was simply phenomenal and led to Scotts becoming a household name both here and abroad.

“In the meantime I was approached by a collection of Chinese businessmen keen to recreate Scotts in the southern Chinese city of Chengdu.”

In a city with a population of over 7.5 million people, the new shop will serve traditional fish and chips to locals and foreigners.

Tony continued: “This is an incredibly exciting prospect – one that I could never have imagined 12 months ago.

“Later this year Chinese tourists could be tucking into fish and chips at Scotts in North Yorkshire, while at the same time western tourists could be enjoying traditional fish and chips in southern China!”