Having won “The Forth Best Restaurant Award” at the annual Forth Awards last year for Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s in Dunfermline, the “Ant & Dec” of the Scottish hospitality scene, Bryan and Jack Coghill, have gone one better by winning Best Restaurant in this year’s Forth Awards for their second venue, The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack in South Queensferry.
The award was handed out to The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack at yesterday’s Forth Awards Show, held at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall. Based on votes by Radio Forth listeners, the award is in association with Saltire Hospitality.
With all performers kept under wraps until on the day itself, a sold out Usher Hall audience were treated to surprise sets from superstar singer Amy Macdonald, Scots icons Wet Wet Wet, Claire Richards of Steps fame, Highland folk pop band Tide Lines, and more.
Forth 1 presenters handed out awards to local heroes as well as celebrities, with Boogie and Arlene, Garry Spence, Callum Gallacher and Steven Mill making appearances onstage, as well as a charity auction to raise money for Forth 1’s Cash for Kids, helping to make a difference for kids across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Falkirk.
10 awards were handed out across the jam-packed show, recognising hometown heroes across Best Teacher, Best Restaurant, Best Workplace, and the all important Forth Local Hero Award.
Only opening its doors in June of this year, The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack has made a stunning entry into the Lothians dining out scene by also achieving a Top Three Best Newcomer listing in the National Fish & Chip Awards, which takes place in London next February.
There is no doubt that Bryan and Jack have had a successful November, as, just last week, Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s won the SLTN Award for Best Restaurant, (Casual Dining).
Big fans of Radio Forth, the father and son chefs immediately dedicated the award to the incredible team at The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack, which includes Bryan’s wife, and Jack’s mum, Michelle, and Jack’s wife, Sarah.
Jack, who is 26 now, and divides his time between The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack, and Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s also picked up the Best Young Chef award at the Scottish Excellence Awards earlier in the year.
As a family, the Coghills have run multiple hospitality business in the UK, Spain and Portugal, over four decades.
Commenting on the Forth Award, Bryan Coghill said: “We are most certainly ending the year on a high as to win this award for The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack is absolutely incredible. We are very grateful to Radio Forth, their listeners, and our own loyal customers. We’ve done the double now which is very, very special to us.”
Adding that he and Jack were becoming known as the “Ant & Dec” of the Scottish Hospitality Awards scene, Bryan said: “We haven’t yet won quite as many awards as Ant and Dec, but we are getting there. It’s true that when you get Jack at an Awards Night, you usually get me too. Let’s just say we have the best working partnership we can have, although as father and son, there will be the odd disagreement!”
Bryan went on to say that he was “so pleased that everybody loves The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack, as it was a real labour of love to bring the restaurant to fruition.”
“I first looked at the site back in 2021, and was keen to introduce a sit down Fish & Chip Restaurant to that location. My career has come full circle, as the first very first restaurant I worked in was a fish & chip one.”
“Now we are onto the second generation with Jack, who’s doing an amazing job heading up this business.”
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Jack Cogill said: “The Forth Awards is always the best experience, where, as winners, we get the opportunity to mingle with all the winners and celebrities. Radio Forth is to be commended for putting on such a great show, with so much entertainment and positivity. We really had a Ball!”
He finished by saying that everyone at The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack was looking forward to a very busy festive season.
“It will be all hands to the pump, (or the fryer) but at the heart of it all, is our desire for our customers to enjoy our food and have the finest fish & chips we can give them.”
