Bilton Road's much-loved Fish Plus to give out free food for Halloween - residents encouraged to come in spooky costumes

A much-loved fish and chip shop in Rugby will be giving free food to residents for two hours on the day after halloween as a thank-you to the community for their support.

From 12-2pm on Sunday, November 1, Andreas Kattous and his staff will open Fish Plus on Bilton Road, offering free chips sausages and fish cakes to anyone wanting a treat.

Andreas said he got the idea to give something back to community during a sleepless night.

He said: "I've just had a little kid and I was lying awake at 3am one night and I just had this brainwave.

"With everything going on and it being unlikely there will be a proper halloween this year I thought I'd do something.

"I'm rubbish at tricks, so I thought it would have to be treats.

"So I thought, why not open the shop for two or three hours and give out some free food?

"It's not just going to be for the kids, anyone is welcome to come in and get some chips with a sausage or a fishcake."

Although not compulsory, Andreas welcomes anyone who wishes to come along in a spooky costume.

Andreas said the giveaway is being done to thank Rugbeians for the vital support in recent months.

He said: "Things are not what they were before the lockdown, but the support of the community has been brilliant - it's kept us going.

"There are a lot of fish and chip shops in Rugby and the surrounding area - but but we still have people travelling from as far away as Leamington and Northampton just to get our food.

"Even people just coming through the doors is a huge support.

"We have been given so much by the community, I wanted to give something back.

"We love the customers, there's great banter and we know about 60 per cent of them by their first name. The staff are brilliant too."

In the 20 years Fish Plus has been in business the shop has done much work with the community.

And at the beginning of lockdown Andreas and his staff handed out sacks of potatoes to residents.

The shop has so far won two awards: 'Best Fish and Chip Shop' in 2014 and in 2020 they won a Good Food Award for fish and chips.

Edit: The original upload of this story was missing 'road' in the headline. It has now been amended to read 'Bilton Road'.