Bizzie Lizzie's, Swadford Street — Restaurant in Skipton

UPDATE: we did indeed move house to a village near Skipton and have returned to Bizzie Lizzie’s many times since my initial review. It would be fair to say that the standard has gone downhill over the last year, with chips undercooked and the fish increasingly greasy. The final straw was this evening where my husband and son discovered that not only have they again reduced their opening hours so they close at 8pm every night of the week, they’ve also decided to stop doing gluten-free altogether “until further notice”, abandoning the many coeliac customers. This was an excellent chippy, but sadly, it seems we’ll no longer be customers. /UPDATE

Up in Skipton on a house hunting mission, and very unfamiliar with the area, I was resigned to eating random cold cuts and cheese from their packets in my hotel room. And then my husband did some hunting and sent me a link to this place.

As a coeliac, it's often hard to find good food, freshly cooked, that isn't a disappointing compromise by someone who thinks we should be grateful for something prepared with little care or attention. So it's lovely to find somewhere that really gets that we're paying customers who have standards.

I had a lovely cod and chips with light, crispy batter and freshly fried chips. So incredibly good, and just one more reason to make the move north, if you're me!

One comment for wheelchair users: the fish and chip shop is listed as wheelchair accessible, but that only applies to the counter. There is no access to tables or loos, because they're down a couple of steps. In my case, this meant eating them off my lap in the street in 1°C temperatures, so on a cold day I'd aim to have a more able-bodied friend hop out of the car and buy them in future. But yes, frozen fingers still totally worth it for good fish...

I have visited Skipton many times over recent decades , more recently have noticed this restaurant and have considered having lunch only to be put off by the place being packed out . We visited the town Thursday 14th April 2022 and noticed it looked less busy at around 1.00pm so gave it a try. The restaurant has undergone substantial upgrading several years ago. On the day of our visit it was quite warm for the time of year with bright sunshine , our table was situated by a window with the roller blind down it was a little uncomfortable and felt the heat of the sun . I can imagine in the hotter months being a problem, it could be improved by the installation of solar control blind or film on the window. The room had a air conditioning chiller but was not working during our vist .

The restaurant is maintained to very clean with high hygiene standards, a toilet is available including for disabled access . The staff were both friendly and customer focused a credit to the management.

We had the seniors fish & chips, slice of bread, cup of tea, followed by ginger sponge & custard. The restaurant offers an extensive menu which will satisfy the majority of visitors.

The quality of the meal was exceptional from the size of fish to the light crispy batter. The meal was served quickly freshly cooked retaining the temperature upon presentation. The ginger sponge and custard was delicious the custard tasted to be freshly made which added to the experience .

Very few similar restaurants are anywhere near as good I have visited many over the years. We will visit again soon and recommend this establishment without any...

We came to Skipton specifically to eat here because I have coeliac's disease and find eating out a real pain. I was reassured to read on their website that Bizzie Lizzie's has been certified by Coeliac UK and offers a number of GF options. In the end, we got so much more than expected. A lovely view out onto the canal, a nice clean and bright restaurant and great food. I was delighted to have tasty cod and chips and a delicious apple and toffee pudding. My husband said his non-GF fish and chips were great too. But the real stars of the show were the staff, particularly Bettina, who could not have been more friendly and attentive. As an example, anyone who has to eat GF bread knows that it crumbles to dust in seconds if you are ever reckless enough to spread even vaguely cold butter on it! My bread came (complete with a little flag saying gluten free) with a little pat of butter. I started to squish it around to soften it then left it for a bit while we waited for our main course. Bettina came over with the plates and asked if I wanted the butter warming so I could spread it. Seems like such a little thing doesn't it, but I could have hugged her just for noticing that there was something she could do to make things easier for me. I felt really well looked after and this is important when you are someone whose dietary restrictions make eating out an awkward experience. I can't recommend this place highly enough and we will be back, even though we live over...