Situated in the heart of Docklands and a mere line’s cast from Canary Wharf, one of the last vestiges of the City of London commerce scene, remains alive and kicking in the form of Billingsgate Market, the iconic, bustling, and historically alluring centrepiece of the capital’s fish trade, carrying out its business five days a… Read More An Inspector Calls Time

As Govenek of Ladram (PZ 51) crewman Stanley triumphantly declared, in the much acclaimed, recent Channel 4 series  “The Catch”. This month sees the airing of yet more revealing and rolling adventures from the UK’s most dangerous civilian profession in the new ITV series “Trawlermen Tales” which features yet another erstwhile Newlyn fisherman and hakemeister,… Read More “All Hail the Hake”

Over the course of the last year, I’ve enjoyed seeing, catching, preparing, sampling and indulging in an glistening array of incredible seafood. Ever one to contemplate my doings, I’ve looked back at 2015 and picked out a few gems from a year that’s seen me travel from a shivering March market in Peterhead, to a balmier… Read More Three Fish 

It’s a flat calm, save a gentle, glassy, swell rising and falling barely noticeably. The trip’s nearly made, the last string hauled, baited and stacked and as the bow swings round and the dhan pitched back over the side, revs increase and the gear shoots back in the indelible routine, that accompanies every outing. Pot… Read More  #SeaYouHomeSafe

It’s no mere coincidence, that having endured ghastly mild and loathsome, unseasonal weather for the first autumnal weeks of this year, my desire to get stuck into proper winter food has coincided with a much needed and heralded temperature plunge this weekend. I happen to be one of those diehard weather traditionalists that expect frosts… Read More East Coast Comfort

Ever since I travelled the 580 miles to Aberdeenshire, on a cold and slate grey morning, last March, to meet with the charismatic Peterhead skipper and Scottish fishery ambassador Jimmy Buchan, I’ve harboured thoughts of returning. The reason for this is twofold: Firstly to visit new friends and catch up on the Northern North Sea… Read More Scotland Delivers

Although my lifelong passion for eating fish and shellfish has equipped me with an incredible wealth of knowledge and the ability to wax lyrical, (albeit ad nauseam), on subjects across this fascinating spectrum, I have to confess, when it comes to their preparation, there are distinct areas in my skill set, that are sadly lacking… Read More A Cut Above The Rest 

You can usually tell when its time for the Aldeburgh Food Festival. More often than not, in the preceding week before the event, the skies clear, an enveloping blanket of high pressure descends, winds abate, the sea flattens and slowly the first autumnal hues appear in the hedgerows. Not so much an “Indian Summer” this… Read More Autumnal Aldeburgh

Eleven years ago, Charles Clover painted a dismal and dispiriting picture of the future of our fisheries in his book “The End of the Line“, in which the shallow seas of our continental shelf and most notably the North Sea, were portrayed as increasingly barren and infertile deserts, where overfishing was the prime culprit in… Read More “Deck to Dinner”- Celebrating our Seafood.