Jon Long and Emma Yeabsley are determined to show Britain’s favourite dish hasn’t had its chips.

The father and daughter duo are the driving force behind Long John’s Fish and Chips, celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year.

The business has five sites – Wimborne, Blandford, Oakdale in Poole and two in Wareham as well as a mobile catering unit.

It employs about 50 people with an annual turnover of around £2 million.

Four of the shops are under the Long John’s name while the fifth trades as Chipperies.

And it’s Chipperies, in South Street, Wareham, which is sporting a brand new look following a six-figure makeover.

Emma, 30, who runs the business on a day to day basis, oversaw the three-month project which included gutting the original building.

In its place new floors, tiling, electrics, plumbing, shopfront and state of the art TV screens displaying the menu and prices.

“We’re very pleased with the final result,” said Emma whose husband, Mark, played a major role in the work along with Alastair Grove of main contractor, Grove Construction (Southern) Ltd.

Jon, 60, a Director of JKL Ltd along with his wife, Nicki, added: “It’s modern, fit for purpose and a much more pleasant working environment.

“We’ve dragged it into the 21^st century.”

The sentiment is shared by Phil Noise, Chipperies’ Manager, pictured, who has worked in fish and chips for 40 years and owned two businesses, one for 22 years.

He said: “We’ve woken up to the fact that you’ve got to move ahead.

“We’ve changed the whole product line.

“The packaging has changed from chip shop paper to cardboard boxes and now bio boxes.

“We’ve done away with as much plastic as humanly possible.

“As for the screens, I would not have believed it when I started.

“Back in the day it was literally chalk on a blackboard.”

Jon’s grandfather, Percy, started what was to become Long John’s in 1948 with a site in Finchley, North London, and shops in Oakdale, Sea View in Poole, Wareham and Millbrook in Southampton.

Jon’s Dad, Dereck, took over the business in the early 1950s, running it with his brother.

In 1996, Jon, who had helped out from the age of eight peeling potatoes but swore he’d never go into the family business, bought what had become the Wimborne shop from his Dad.

After a  two week closure for a shopfitting costing £60,000 it reopened with takings doubling overnight.

By 2005 Jon had built up the business to 11 shops but that number has since halved.

As with so many sectors, times are tough for fish and chips with soaring costs, ranging from the price of fish to energy.

Jon, who describes himself as an ‘active consultant’ to Emma, said: “There is more pressure now on fish and chips than there’s ever been.

“The turnover is still there but it’s the bottom line profit.

“You can only put your prices up so much.

“I’ve never seen such an unprecedented time in all my years in business in terms of pressure on costs.

“There are going to be a lot of businesses hitting the wall.

“Potentially three out of five fish and chip shops could shut.

“There are about 10,000 fish and chip shops in the country, I can see quite a few thousand shutting.”

However, Jon said he believed the tide could be turned by investing in the business, as in the case of Chipperies, while fish and chips remained a firm national favourite.

He said: “I call fish and chips the perfect marriage.

“Fish from the sea, potato from the land.

“It hasn’t been messed around with.

“It’s literally a piece of fish and a fried potato.”

Emma added: “I don’t think fish and chips is ever going to go out of fashion.

“It’s rooted in us really.

“As long as we keep doing a good job and keep up the quality.”

• longjohnsfishandchips.co.uk