TV Fixer Alex Polizzi helps Yate chippy Pisces dish up awards success

A FAMILY-RUN fish and chip shop in Yate has won a national award – with a little help from TV's Alex Polizzi.

Pisces in Station Road featured on his BBC show The Fixer and she arranged to have the shop assessed by the National Federation of Fish Fryers.

And they gave the shop the Fish and Chip Quality Award for good quality products and high standards of hygiene.

Juki Holbrook, who runs the business, said being featured on the programme helped them deal with some of the trickier issues of being a family-run business.

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The 26-year-old left her job as a nursery nurse last October to take over running the shop when her brother left to go to Australia.

She is the third generation of her family to run the business.

It was started by her grandfather, Derek, in 1958. Her mum and dad Julia and "Kipper" took over in 1988.

Juki said: "I wanted to do it to help mum and dad out and I wouldn't want to see someone else take over the shop, I wouldn't like that. The shop is just a big part of my life.

"It always was me in the shop, from a young age so it sort of feels like I'm fulfilling my purpose in life."

Three years ago the family invested in upgrading their equipment and installed a high-tech till system, leaving them with a £250,000 debt.

Juki said: "Last year we had no real direction as to where we were going, the future was unsure, we didn't know who would take on and run the business".

In January the family opened the doors to Alex Polizzi and The Fixer camera crew.

She said: "Alex really helped us to understand that we need to keep any problems in the business at work and not take them home with us. That separation between work and home is key".

Juki is now confident about the future and her place within it

She said: "Trade has definitely improved since I took on the business. There is so much choice for takeaways in the area now but we're focused on keeping the interest there for customers.

"I'd say that the key ingredient to any successful business is personal dedication which is something that I have for the business."