The owners of The Wee Kelpie in Helensburgh are encouraging customers to vote for them in a bid to be crowned Scotland’s Best Takeaway – but you have only a few days left to add your support.

Kerr Raeburn, 43, runs the seaside chippy with his wife Nicola, 42, are hopeful loyal and new customers will vote and help them win the title of Best Takeaway in the Entertainment and Hospitality Awards.

Kerr said: “Being a chippy in Helensburgh means you are up against it with competition in bigger cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh because they can get more votes.

“We have some fantastic customers and they have been telling us they have voted. Our customers really are great and most of our success is down to them.”

The couple, from Bridge of Weir, have owned the shop since 2011. They have been encouraging people to vote by leaving leaflets in their shop for people to sign up.

He added: “We have got to be in it to win it and it helps to generate business.

“It would be great to win but there’s lots of other positives to entering like engaging with customers.

“We get customers from out of town too. Helensburgh is one of those places people travel to for chips so it is nice if we can get quite a lot of these nominations.”

The Wee Kelpie were recently awarded a glass trophy after becoming the south west Best Fish and Chip Shop of 2018 at the Italian Awards

Kerr said: “We didn’t even know about it until they contacted us so some of our customers must have nominated us, so it was a bit of a surprise.

“When we first opened we decided everything would be cooked to order, nothing was hot held, and everything would be fresh, so we were just trying to make ourselves different.”

“We want to reduce the environmental impact, so we use compostable packaging so that if it blows away into the sea it’s biodegradable and doesn’t harm the environment.”

They also scooped the honour of best chip in Scotland for their chunky chips in the Choice Chip Awards 2014.

The Wee Kelpie on West Clyde Street will compete against other businesses across Scotland to attend the Entertainment and Hospitality Award’s ceremony in April.

If they are shortlisted judges will go along to the shop to decide who deserves to win based on their food, services and engagement with customers.

Other categories include Best Newcomer, Best Indian Restaurant Best Gin Bar and Best World Cuisine.

Nominations close at midnight on Sunday March 18 and winners will be shortlisted in the next few weeks.

To vote visit http://entertainmentawards.co.uk/vote-now/.