Many people ask us ‘why Newlyn’ when there are so many other fabulous fishing ports around the UK.

 

Newlyn is, and will always be, our first choice for fish due to the quality of fish landed there on a daily basis and the wonderful relationships we have with many of the people who live and work there. Since we first opened we have been overwhelmed by everything that our supplier, Newlyn Fish Company, has sourced from the market. Located right on the Southwest toe of the UK, Newlyn has been a working harbour since the 15th century and is now one of the UK’s largest fishing ports with more than 600 vessels and 100 fishermen landing up to 40 different species of fresh fish daily. The location of the harbour, adjacent to some of the richest fishing grounds in the Northern Hemisphere, brings a wonderfully diverse catch and the Newlyn Fleet are renowned for landing fish of exceptional quality. Originally made famous by Cornish sardines or ‘pilchards’ and more recently with the outstanding quality of the Cornish Hake, the fishermen landing into Newlyn really understand that they can add value to their catch by working hard to maintain quality.

The market itself has recently undergone a significant £1.3m refurbishment, transforming it into a fully refrigerated, state of the art facility. This was completed in 2019.

At around 4am the graders sort the days catch by size and species ready for the buyers to arrive. Fish is sold by auction to the highest bidder, so it can get quite nerve-wracking depending on how much fish was landed and how many buyers are desperate to get their hands on the catch

 

Peter Clive from Newlyn Fish heads down to the market to select the fish each morning. We keep in touch so we both know roughly what we’re looking for, but mother nature always throws us curved balls – good and challenging, so until the market’s done and dealt, we have no idea of what we’ll be seeing on our counter the following morning.

Of course, not everything is available every day; tides, weather, seasonality, sheer good luck and determination dictates ‘todays catch’, but you can always be certain that if the fish is on the market, and the quality is exceptional, then it will find its way up the A303 to our counters

 

Newlyn Species we love to see on our fish counter…

Weather and seasons permitting, pretty much every day we will see Hake, Cod, Haddock, Monkfish, Plaice, Lemon Sole, Dover Sole, Turbot, Brill, Sand Sole, Skate (Ray) & John Dory. Bass, Mackerel, Sardines, Gurnard, Red Mullet, Squid

And whenever they’re available, you will also find… Pollack, Whiting, Witch Sole, Megrim, Dabs, Red Bream, Couches Bream, Gilt Head Bream, Black Bream, Grey Mullet, Dogfish (Huss/Rock) Conger Eel and occasionally Cuttlefish