TODAY sees people across the country marking National Fish and Chips Day – and an Upton chip shop is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the day.

As part of the celebrations, Fish and Chips at Weston Grove, Upton, held another successful competition for local schools in the area.

In addition, the chip shop has teamed up with the Royal Mint and has a limited number of special 'fish and chips' 10p coins in its tills.

Visitors can get their hands on the special coin simply by making a purchase today.

The chip shop is the only one in Chester selected for the scheme.

It comes after pupils of Upton Westlea Primary School were asked to produce posters about the dangers of plastic pollution to oceans, something that Josette and Richard Foster – the owners of Fish and Chips at Weston Grove – are passionate about.

The posters have been displayed in the shop to encourage the people of Chester to think about recycling and the choices they make when shopping and eating out, in particular avoiding single use plastics, such as plastic straws.

Award-winning Fish and Chips at Weston Grove has been serving fish and chips since October 2016 and they're asking customers to join them on their journey to become the first plastic-free fish and chip shop in Chester.

It comes as Chester is aiming to be the first city to be straw free.

An estimated 300,000 plastic drinking straws are used in the city each day. They are dumped into landfill, taking hundreds of years to breakdown. Lots of plastic finds its way into natural habitats, especially the seas and oceans.

Upton councillor Jill Houlbrook, who helped to judge the competition, said: "This is an incredibly worthwhile campaign and it would be fantastic if Chester could be the first UK city to turn its back on plastic drinking straws.

"It's so straightforward to get involved, if you're a business that serves drinks only give out a straw if the customer asks for one and if you're a customer please only ask for a straw if you really need one – that's it, so let's see where it leads."

Josette said: "This year the pupils of Upton Westlea have done a brilliant job in producing the most amazing, colourful posters that will really get the message across to the people of Chester.

"The standard was extremely high and Cllr Jill Houlbrook and I were overwhelmed by the care that the pupils had made to get this important message across. I cannot wait to display them in the shop."

Twelve pupils have now won tickets to go to The Blue Planet Aquarium in Chester. Runners up will receive a voucher for a Fish and Chips at Weston Grove children's meal.