It sells more than 1,000 portions of fish and chips every week – and on Friday nights the 31-seat restaurant can be filled 15 minutes after opening, with people queueing for tables.

So-called fish and chip tourists have been known to travel across the country to try the food at the Shap Chippy. And it gets a ringing endorsement from its customers too – who agree with all the accolades bestowed on the shop, hailed as one of the top 50 in the UK.

Gary Pagin walked more than 10 miles from Penrith to Shap on recommendation to sample this traditional English cooking. He arrived just before they closed and ordered fish, peas, a bread roll and a pickled onion, skipping its famed chips.

Gary, 54, who was visiting Cumbria from Doncaster, said: “It was definitely worth the walk. Lovely fish, lovely peas. Everything was very nice.”

The chippy, which has received the thumbs-up from critics for the quality of its fish and chips, has been owned and run by Jo Hampson and Georgina Perkins since April 2013.

Before Georgina and Jo took it on, the shop had changed hands a number of times before it finally closed down after a fire.

They used to run The Old Smokehouse at Brougham Hall before starting up Smokey Jo’s Food Smoking Courses.

“Jo wanted a new, big and exciting challenge,” said Georgina, 51. “Seeing it decline was so sad after having being such a bright focal point of the village. To be honest, we weren’t big fish and chip eaters.”

They initially faced an eight-week building project to renovate the damaged building and went on the National Federation of Fish Fryers three-day course to learn how to master frying and managing the business.

They were put in touch with award-winning fryer Nigel Hodgson, from Lancaster, who Georgina and Jo say has been a guru to them ever since.

“What we found about the industry is that everyone is really helpful because the bottom line is if you have an unpleasant meal of fish and chips you’re not going to have them for a while, so it’s in the interest of everybody in the business to produce good fish and chips,” said Georgina.

“We don’t want to get it wrong. If you start off doing it right you know whether there are corners you can cut – and actually if you want to keep the perfect product there aren’t many.”

It has paid off. They acquired the Quality Award from the National Federation of Fish Fryers in 2013 and again in 2015. For two years in a row they won the Potato Council’s Chip Week award for “best chippy chips” in Cumbria and in 2015 scooped Best Newcomer at the National Fish and Chip Awards.

That was the biggest award for Jo, 59, who is still bemused by their achievements.

“We didn’t know anything about this industry,” she said. “We thought you’ve got to go to the best in the business and ask advice. Georgina and I just do as we’re told. Nigel told us how to do it properly and we follow it to a tee.

“It’s far more fun than I thought it was going to be. The customers are lovely and we’ve got a great team of staff.

“Every week come people from Dumfries, Longtown, Carlisle, Barnard Castle, Kirkby Stephen, Barrow and Lancaster.

“We’ve become a destination fish and chip shop. The only thing I set out to do was to win Best Newcomer.”

Assistant manager Dal Dawkins, one of 14 staff, said: “We find people coming, what they call fish and chip tourists, which I’d never heard of. They identify what are perceived to be the best chippies and they travel from place to place to go to them.

“They’ve made sure they’ve got a seat in our restaurant.”

He added that diners have come on recommendation from as far as New Zealand while they were visiting the UK.

Dal, 56, put on three stone when he started at the shop but recently joined Slimming World and has already lost 10lb.

He loves his job and likes to see returning customers.

“They say lovely things which makes it really rewarding to serve in the restaurant. If you win an award you then have to maintain the standards.

“We won it because we’re good, so we have to stay good – and will do so,” he said.

Brian and Jennifer Norris, who live in the village, are regulars with their golden retriever Honey.

Brian, 88, said: “They do very good food, especially the fish. The food is excellent.

“It tastes nice. It’s very flavoursome. We also don’t like a lot of batter and they do it specially lightly battered for us.”

Jennifer, 77, added: “They’re reliable and they make us very welcome. The chips are nice and fresh.”

Glenys and Peter Smith, from Underbarrow, near Kendal, enjoyed fish and chips in Shap for the first time this week.

When asked what she made of it, Glenys, 70, said: “I think better than ever.

“It was very, very good indeed. It was the fish and the crispy batter. The chips were lovely.”

Peter thoroughly enjoyed it, with the fish the highlight of his meal.

Shap Chippy opens Tuesday to Saturday, midday to 1.30pm, then 4.30pm-8pm, and on Sunday it is open 4.30pm-8pm.