COVENTRY FISHMONGER

I will be in Coventry for my next visit on the 18th & 19th March.

Then no fish for two weeks due to the Bank Holiday on 1st April. Back again on 8th April & 22nd April then no fish again for two weeks.

Please TEXT me your order by saturday evening if possible so I can start on my list, sundays making up my order list are very busy these days, thanks.

I am in Radford on Tuesday Lunchtimes at Jubilee Crescent .
12 Noon for One Hour.

I will have no way of knowing how many customers will visit my van and buy fish, this means that I cannot control how much fish I will have on ice on tuesdays. Please do text me to order your fish well before sunday evenings so I have the best chance of saving some fish for you.

Please let me have your order as soon as possible; friday/saturday is best. This allows me to place my order in time at the suppliers on the fish docks.

If you are going away on your holidays then please do let me know in advance so I can reduce my order & prevent wastage, thanks.

07790459051

Winter 2023/4: Silver Hake has increased by five pounds per kilo on the market some weeks so my merchant supplier won’t buy it for his trade. If price isn’t an issue for your chosen fish then do let me know and I will try to source what you want. I have no idea what fish is available until I arrive on the docks each monday morning – nothing is guaranteed to be available so please understand that I might not have exactly what you would like. I do try to fulfil all orders but I can only sell a fillet of fish once and occasionally supply doesn’t meet demand. Fresh Salmon has been a BIG PROBLEM lately and prices have been up. I am working extra time on monday afternoons preparing my customers individual orders to try to keep everyone happy & so far things haven’t gone too bad.

Previously:

I was not in Coventry on TUESDAY 14th of March. The weather forecast was bad – Coventry had gales and snow – and also the price of salmon which is my most popular line went through the roof – again. It seems that America is buying up whatever salmon they can source from wherever they can (Scotland & Norway,) Norway’s government has added a levy to the price and France is buying much more than usual. I have also taken over a local dog food supply business which will need some time to organise.

I made the right choice in not working on August 8th & 9th. Apart from the heat, a box of best fresh haddock sold at auction for a record price, the buyer was Ian who I get my smoked haddock from – THIS SHOWS HOW GOOD HIS FISH IS. He needs to buy top quality fish to supply his customers and to stay in business.

Sunday: Ian from the Smokehouse has messaged out that Smoked Haddock will be up by £3.20 PER KILO due to low supplies the previous week and even less fish arriving  on monday. I expect fresh fish prices to also be very high for this week. My suppliers bid for the fish at an auction so low supplies = high prices.

The tuesday when lockdown started I was one hour behind schedule by 7pm and exchanged 94 messages/calls. 840 texts in April – please see below! 

I AM NOT  at the Allesley Village Hall on wednesdays. My schedule has had to change.

Staff at the market reception desk will give you more information.

Before the weekend is best for pre-orders so I can place an order with my supplier.
A pre-order by text is the easiest/best way for me if possible but a phone call is fine, I will probably not reply unless there is a problem, please do not reply again with a thank-you,  too many messages incoming preventing me from going to my next stop.


The best hand-picked fresh Grimsby fish in Coventry, monday evening & tuesdays only!

The journey in my fishvan to Coventry starts at 3.30pm each monday with my first doorstep call around 6pm. If you would like the Coventry fishman to bring you fresh fish every week and you live very close to an existing call on my daily route and are home when I visit then I might?? be able to call at your house.


Many thanks for all of your kind comments about Bayda’s puppies www.blacklabradorpuppies.co.uk They are the cutest puppies ever and all are doing well.


My customers tell me that with living in Coventry fish, especially good quality fresh fish is hard to find. But they know where to find it. I’m on Grimsby Fish Docks (I live in Grimsby) early on monday mornings selecting the best fish from several merchants along with smoked fish from Ian’s smoke house, MTL.  Main seafood varieties include haddock, cod, plaice, salmon, seabass and trout. Kippers, smoked haddock, herring roe & fishcakes. Also depending upon availability and market-price are hake, tuna, halibut, lemon sole, mackerel, whiting, Pollock, monkfish tail, red bream, witches, sliced smoked salmon and Hot Kiln-roasted Salmon. Seasonal lines include cod roe – sometimes called Hard Roe, Fresh Dressed Crabs and Mussels.

FISHMONGER IN COVENTRY

My customers tell me that mine is the best fish they’ve ever tasted –

YOU WANT THE BEST FISH YOU’VE EVER TASTED?

easterprize 2

Congratulations to all the Winners of the winter and spring prize draws. Keep an eye out for news of the next one!


NOW BACK IN JUBILEE CRESCENT, TUEDAYS 12 NOON FOR ONE HOUR!

Jubilee Crescent

A short video of where you can find me in Radford:

This is what the Grimsby Fishing Industry used to be like before politics got in the way and the Cod Wars in the 1970’s when NATO wanted a base close to Russia and Iceland thus gained a 12 mile and 200 mile exclusion zone. European Union fish quota developments were the final straw;

Below is a five minute video of what goes on down dock. Red Bream being filleted, skate wings being skinned, a fish house on a cold day with warm hats, large cod being cut. These guys and some girls work long hours from 5am until 3pm in unheated fish houses, in the winter there’s always ice from the fish boxes floating in the cutting tubs.

video by AiLExecution

And finally, for anyone who thinks Grimsby might be grim, it is actually called Great Grimsby  Some of my history; I attended the Tollbar School featured in the video (1974-1979)  I was chatting on the phone this week (4th March 2021) with the chap in black woolly hat shovelling ice into his fish-van – also Coventry area deliveries, and know most of the van lads in that part of the video. Still buy fish from Excel Seafoods, Dean in the blue apron who does market stands has a stand in my village on thursdays – chatting with him today at one of our suppliers, tooted at Dave – main man at Enderby’s Smokehouse for decades- as I left the docks, I used to buy boxes of frozen cod from Gary Cadey at the Seafood Village to supply Jubilee Crescent Community Centre in Radford, I recycle the used cooking oil for the market café where the CATZERO trainee chef is working in the Freeman Street Market, my nephew attended the Catch Industrial Training College as part of his apprenticeship. I was at the Grimsby Institute for my plumbing qualification over four years to Advanced Craft City & Guilds (Apprentice of the year award & Christian Cup 1983,) and also did basic and advanced City & Guilds website building at the Franklin College featured in the video and do part-time website work ( I had a call from Keith Clifton recently to help with his daughter Joanne’s (Strictly Come Dancing Glitter Ball Winner 2016) online dance teaching work. I’ve danced ballroom, Latin & jive a fair few times with Kevin Clifton’s (Strictly Come Dancing Glitter Ball Winner 2018) mum, Judy. Motorbike Ace Guy Martin is cousin to the ex-wife of one of my mates – it’s a small world over here in Great Grimsby.

Leave a Reply