Stock photograph, for atmosphere · not Ninepin’s own fryer · Ron Lach, Pexels
Frying now
- Fryers off at
- 21:30
- Typical wait
- 7 min
- Ring ahead on
- 486210
NinepinFish Bar
The corner of Catherine Street, forty years of the same batter. Cold outside, hot inside — and the light’s on from half eleven.
Ring to order
Ring to order
01727 486210Ring ahead and it’s wrapped and waiting — say a time, walk in, pick it up. Big orders on the same number; Sheila answers between the fryers, so if it rings out at half six, give it two minutes and try again.
- Collect between
- Tue–Thu 11:45–14:00 & 16:30–21:00.
Fri, Sat and Sun differ — see the week below. - Longest you’ll wait
- 12 minutes, a wet Friday
- Where to stand
- Ring-ahead counter, left of the range
The board
Everything we fry, and what it costs
Today: plaice landed Tuesday, whole and on the board. No skate until Thursday — the boat’s in for repair. Gluten-free fry every Wednesday, 17:00–20:00, fresh oil and its own fryer.
Small is one fillet and a normal portion of chips. Large is the one you can’t finish.
Board updated 20 August 2026 · prices held since March
Inside the shop
Two fryers, one heat lamp and a queue to the door at ten past six
It’s a small shop. You can see the range from the counter, which is the point — nothing comes out of a cupboard.
What we fry in, and where the fish comes from
Ask us anything about it — we’d rather you knew
Two pans, and you choose
The big range runs on beef dripping. That’s the batter people have been coming back for since 1986 and we’re not changing it.
The small range runs on vegetable oil, all day, every day. Same batter, same chips, no dripping anywhere near it. Just say “veg oil please” when you order — nobody sighs, it’s a third of what we sell.
Chips are cooked in the vegetable pan by default, so they’re vegetarian as standard.
Where the fish is from
Boxed at Grimsby off the day boats, on a van at six in the morning, in our fridge by half ten. We buy three times a week, so nothing sits.
- Cod
- Big flakes, mild, the one most people mean when they say fish and chips. Icelandic, MSC-certified.
- Haddock
- Finer flake, slightly sweeter, holds together better. What we’d order ourselves.
- Plaice
- Flat, delicate, fried whole on the bone. Thursdays and Fridays when the landing’s good.
- Rock & skate
- Firmer and richer. Rock is boneless; skate has cartilage you eat around.
Gluten-free Wednesday
Every Wednesday from 17:00 to 20:00 we bring up the third fryer with fresh oil, gluten-free batter, its own tongs, its own scoop and its own bit of counter.
Cod, haddock, sausage and chips all go through it. Ring by five so we know how much batter to mix. Coeliac customers ask us the same three questions every week and we’re happy to answer them on the phone before you walk down.
Allergens, plainly
Fish, gluten, milk, egg, soya, mustard, celery and sulphites are all in the shop. The full allergen folder lives on the counter and you’re welcome to read it — Ray will hand it over without being asked twice.
Outside of Wednesday evening, we can’t promise anything is free of gluten traces. We’ll tell you that on the phone rather than let you find out.
Where and when
Bottom of Catherine Street, the one with the light on
Whitby, North Yorkshire
YO21 3GH
Four minutes up from the Town Hall, on the left past the barber. The Catherine Street bays are free after 6pm and all day Sunday — most people park right outside and leave the engine running, which we’d rather you didn’t.
| Mon | Closed — we clean the range |
|---|---|
| Tue | 11:45–14:00 · 16:30–21:00 |
| Wed | 11:45–14:00 · 16:30–21:00 |
| Thu | 11:45–14:00 · 16:30–21:00 |
| Fri | 11:45–14:00 · 16:00–21:30 |
| Sat | 11:45–21:00 · straight through |
| Sun | 16:30–20:30 |
Boxing Day and New Year’s Day closed. Good Friday is our busiest day of the year — ring before noon.
Big orders and functions
Twenty portions is a normal Friday for us
Football nights, office Fridays, wakes, minibus stops on the way back from Wembley. Tell us how many and when, and it’s bagged, labelled and hot on the counter.
£230.40 £9.60 each — 20 or more
Give us 24 hours and it’ll be boxed in fours with a heat bag over the top.
Football nights
England games and cup finals we put an extra pair of hands on and fry to a schedule. Ring the week before and we’ll give you a slot at half-time.
Office Fridays
Standing orders welcome — same order, same time, same bloke collecting. We invoice monthly if you’d rather not carry a card down.
How much warning
Under ten: twenty minutes. Ten to twenty: ring before two. Over twenty: a day. Over fifty: two days, and we’ll bring the second range up for you.
Not part of the fiction
There’s no message pad here
Ninepin Fish Bar is a fictional concept site, so a form on this page wouldn’t reach anyone. If you want the people who build sites like this one, that’s Kalen Tech, not Ninepin.
A few words
I’ve been coming since I was at Verulam. Same batter, same bloke, same joke about the pickled eggs.
Rang at half five with an order for eleven. It was on the counter in three bags at six, and still hot at ten past.
Worth knowing
The answers to what people ask at the counter
Card
Card works on anything from £3 — contactless, phones, watches, all of it. Under £3 it’s cash, and there’s a machine in the Co-op two doors down.
Why we’re not on the apps
A fish that’s spent twenty minutes in a rucksack isn’t the fish we cooked. Ring us instead and it’ll be hot, wrapped and cheaper — no service fee, no markup.
Dogs
Welcome inside, lead on, and there’s a water bowl by the door that Ray refills about six times a day.
Seating
Twelve seats at the back on formica tables. No bookings, no service charge — sit down and someone will bring cutlery over.
Toilets
Customer toilet through the back, baby change on the wall. Just ask at the counter and we’ll unlock it.
Access
One step at the door and we keep a ramp behind it — knock on the glass or ring from the car and we’ll bring the order out to you.