Hot on the heels of Shetland's Frankie's Fish & Chips (which recently scooped the title of Scotland's top chippie), four other Scottish shops have just been named in the UK's top 12 list.

The three have made the UK's top 12 shortlist for the Independent Fish and Chip Restaurant of the Yearas part of the 2015 National Fish & Chip Awards, organised by Seafish.

The shortlisted restaurants are: Cromars in St Andrews, Fife; The Chippy Doon The Lane in Glasgow, The Trawler in Golspie and The Real Food Café in Tyndrum, Stirling. The restaurants will now compete in the final stage of the competition to become the ultimate winner.

To secure a place as a top 12 finalist, the restaurants had to shine across a wide variety of aspects associated with the running of a fish and chip restaurant. The respective restaurants were appraised on criteria ranging from the quality of their cooked products through to restaurant facilities, marketing activity and customer service.

Award sponsor David Lovell, Business Director of Goldensheaf, said: "We have a heritage of over 60 years as the UK's leading batter mix so we can identify with the importance of being recognised as a quality performer within the industry.

"This award category rewards those businesses that strive to both provide the best fish and chip dining experience for their customers and to improve the standards in their business as a whole.

"We congratulate the 12 restaurants in reaching this tough stage of the competition and wish them good luck in the next round of judging."

An eventual Top 3 list of restaurants will be selected as finalists, who will progress to the prestigious awards ceremony at The Lancaster London Hotel on 20 January 2015 where the overall national winner will be crowned.