A popular West Cumbrian fish and chip shop is set to get a new operator.
The day-to-day running and management of Salt Fish and Chips, on South Parade, in Seascale, will be taken over by chef and local resident Graham Evans, on July 14.
Founder and owner Benjamen Seed, 43, of Wellington, is stepping back from the business after running it for nearly three years.
He said he made the decision as he had originally only planned to manage the business, but became heavily involved over time.
The fish and chip shop may have a few days closure during the transition period but will continue running as usual under Graham’s direction.
Ben said: “I have loved renovating the building and running Salt, it’s been great, but it was time for me to go back to my roots.
“I’m a bike mechanic really and and I’ve run my first business Marra Bikes and Boards for around five years over the summers, but it had to be put back while we were getting the chippy sorted, so now I can fully invest in it.
“With Salt we struggled to find chefs and every element of running the shop kept falling back to me, which wasn’t really supposed to be the case.
“Salt will still be my business and building, but I am leaving Graham to fully operate and run it, so I won’t be his boss!
“I never expected it to be as popular as it is and it’s really nice to go out on a high. It’s doing very well and we’re getting great reports and I am very proud of it.”
Ben first met Graham at his own wedding in 2022, where Graham – who has worked at a number of high-profile venues across the county and wider country – did some of the catering.
He added: “My wife also knows his wife Hannah through school, so we’ve always really got on quite well.
“But I knew that Graham was a good chef and he had a stint at Gosforth School doing the meals there and the kids absolutely loved him. Everything I’ve heard about him has just been really good.
“Hospitality is actually quite a small industry around here and with the drivers that drop our ingredients off, when I said it was Graham taking over, they immediately knew him. He’s always given such a positive review by people.”
Salt Fish and Chips won the prestigious Peter Hill Award in 2025 – which is awarded to the best new fish and chip shops in the UK.
It has also welcomed a few celebrities through its doors – including Brooklyn Beckham’s model ex-girlfriend, actors from Game of Thrones and an actor from Red Dwarf.
Ben said it had been a pleasure to set up a business that is now very well-loved in the area.
He added: “I want to wish Graham the absolute best of luck with running it all and thank the general public for supporting us.
“We’ve not always been perfect but we’ve still had the same faces coming in and we’ve still remained busy and that means a lot, it really does.
“Our local MP Josh MacAlister has also absolutely flown the flag for us and has mentioned us all over the place, which has been really nice.
“I’d also like to say a special thank you to the team past and present whilst I’ve been at Salt.
“Without you guys none of this could have been achieved.”
Ben will now run his outdoor activity business Marra Bikes and Boards full time in Gosforth.
He added: “We’ll be open in July fully and we’ve got a lovely little workshop where I’ve got all my tools.
“I quite like aesthetics like I did with the interior of Salt, which I still to this day think is beautiful and probably my life’s work and I’m trying to do a similar thing here.
“But we’re going to be doing paddleboard rental, kayak rental, mountain bike rental and that transfers through to bike guiding, trail running guiding and guided hiking up the fells.
“We also do team building stuff, so my wife is a doctor in psychology and we’ve been doing that with some teams who work at Sellafield.
“I’ll also be servicing bikes, doing repairs, full builds, basically anything to do with bikes. We do want to do some races soon, but that will probably happen next year.
“I’m super excited about it and it’s what I wanted to do even when I was running Salt.
“But Salt was never supposed to be this way, it was just supposed to be a cool idea that I managed. But we’re really excited for the future now.”
Ben’s last shift at Salt will be on Saturday July 11.
