A chippie has been forced to increase prices for a second time after being battered by rising costs.

Bankers, which has three fish and chip shops across Brighton and Hove, said “ongoing cost pressures” mean the prices of products it buys have soared.

James Lipscombe, managing director and owner of The Chesterford Group which operates Bankers, said the company could have saved money by buying cheaper products that don’t meet its ethical or quality standards, but “it is really something that we just do not want to do”.

He said that as recently as last week the company was informed of a ten per cent jump in the cost of pork products, affecting the cost of its sausages, saveloys and ribs.

Mr Lipsombe said the cost of potatoes had also increased “substantially” since the start of the year due to a lack of good supply following an unprecedented hot summer.

The Argus: Bankers has been forced to increase its prices for the second time in four monthsBankers has been forced to increase its prices for the second time in four months (Image: The Argus)

Following the increase, a medium cod and chips meal now costs £14.50, with a jumbo sausage and chips costing £8 and a single portion of chips now £4.

However, he said the company has launched offers for customers amid the cost-of-living crisis, including a sausage bundle deal four four people - a sausage or saveloy each with regular chips for £14.99.

“We understand that times are tough and that is why we are trying to support customers with offers like these,” Mr Lipscombe said.

“We have a choice, we could buy cheaper, inferior products that don’t meet our ethical sourcing principles or quality standards, but it really is something that we just do not want to do.”

The Argus:

It comes just months after the company said it “had no choice but to increase prices”, citing inflation, Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine as reasons behind the significant increase in energy and food costs.

In December, Mr Lipsombe told customers: “The reality is that without these increases, we could not afford to operate as a business in this current economic climate.”

The company is marking 100 years since the family-owned business opened its first chip shop in Romford in Essex.