High flying Papas Fish and Chips restaurant set land in Blackpool

Hull-based Papas Fish and Chips is to take over the former Las Iguanas eaterie on the corner of Church Street creating around 100 jobs.

The firm was founded in 1966 as England celebrated winning the World Cup and has since grown into a chain of ten outlets.

It is owned by brothers Dino and George Papas with their father Sid, who have their own secret recipe for batter that they have used since the 1960s.

In 2017 it took part in a BBC contest, The Best of British Takeaways and won the Britain’s Best Fish and Chips title.

Also that year, the company sent a portion of haddock and chips into space, using a specially designed weather balloon launched from SentIntoSpace in Sheffield.

Dino Papas said: “We used to come to Blackpool for our family holidays so it is a dream come true to be opening a restaurant here.

“It is one of England’s most famous and iconic resorts and the site is a great location on the Promenade.

“My grandad began selling fish and chips at the seaside and so it is wonderful to be able to do that in Blackpool.

“The restaurant will have 350 seats so it will be the biggest fish and chip restaurants on the west coast.

“We are hiring staff now and will create around 100 jobs and if anyone is interested they can go to the careers site on our website.

"Our speciality is fish and chips with great customer service, great produce and great value.”

The firm is hoping the Blackpool restaurant will open in just over two weeks time and finishing touches are being made now.

The building was formerly the Latin American -themed Las Iguanas restaurant which opened in 2015 but closed its doors in lockdown 2020 and never reopened as owners the Casual Dining Company went into administration. Prior to that the 6,000 sq ft unit was a Burger King.

Blackpool Gazette: Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, then a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here