Wet Fish / Seafood Stalls

Gribbo

Is selling shelfish outside a pub, a countrywide thing, or is it limited to London and some home counties?

My Mrs is from Fleet and says she's never heard of the concept, but I've always hought it was usual throughout the UK??? Surely you'd get them at least in Grimsby and the like at least?

Seeing as there seems to be people from all over the UK on here, thought I'd pose the question.

MrOneLung

I’ll look into it 

cfgs

There is a fish stall outside The Swan pub just down the road from the fire station in Maidstone.

Leuth

Until I moved last month, I'd attend the Winkles seafood shack outside the Anchor & Hope every Friday. Whelks, cockles and crayfish my usual order. Must get back there soon, catch up with Lisa who runs it, who's very nice

Aware this doesn't come close to answering the question though, lol

Covered End

Where have you moved to Leuth (if you wish to answer)?

AndyG

It's very much a southern thing mate. 

EugenesAxe

Well, you could say Plymouth is a seafood city, and it’s absolutely not a thing here, pasties yes; seafood outside pubs: never.

superclive98

Don't know how anyone eats the disgusting stuff (shellfish not pasties!).

Leuth

Covered End said:

Where have you moved to Leuth (if you wish to answer)?

East Finchley. I know. Traitor. 

Gribbo

superclive98 said:

Don't know how anyone eats the disgusting stuff (shellfish not pasties!).

Could live off it meself. Don't even bother taking the shell or shit pipe off the prawns. Head, tail and as many legs I can get hold of in one go, come off, and whatevers left goes down. Always suck the brains out the pawns head n all. 

Dave Rudd

Gribbo said:

superclive98 said:

Don't know how anyone eats the disgusting stuff (shellfish not pasties!).

Could live off it meself. Don't even bother taking the shell or shit pipe off the prawns. Head, tail and as many legs I can get hold of in one go, come off, and whatevers left goes down. Always suck the brains out the pawns head n all. 

Ah, a connoisseur.

You should check out Le Wouri down near Woolwich Dockyard.

Raith_C_Chattonell

You can get crabs in Belvedere.

Raith_C_Chattonell

https://www.theperfectcrabshack.co.uk/

killerandflash

Leuth said:

Covered End said:

Where have you moved to Leuth (if you wish to answer)?

East Finchley. I know. Traitor. 

Quite near me. I had wondered who had graffitied the Northern Line train with "Gilbey is a w*nker"

killerandflash

Leigh-on-sea near Southend has loads of seaford stalls

Six-a-bag-of-nuts

Gribbo said:

superclive98 said:

Don't know how anyone eats the disgusting stuff (shellfish not pasties!).

Could live off it meself. Don't even bother taking the shell or shit pipe off the prawns. Head, tail and as many legs I can get hold of in one go, come off, and whatevers left goes down. Always suck the brains out the pawns head n all. 

That is possibly the most disgusting thing I have read on this forum.

Leuth

killerandflash said:

Leuth said:

Covered End said:

Where have you moved to Leuth (if you wish to answer)?

East Finchley. I know. Traitor. 

Quite near me. I had wondered who had graffitied the Northern Line train with "Gilbey is a w*nker"

You jest! Actually, as North London goes it really isn't bad for getting to The Valley. Tube then train, takes just an hour. Could have been a lot worse

stockportaddick

My mum absolutely adored winkles and other bits and bobs she got off some bloke on a Sunday afternoon. From memory, a geezer dinging a bell would come down our road flogging shellfish and my old mum would be first in the queue. Then came our move oop north and I'll never forget my mums utter disappointment on the realisation that the winkle man didn't exist up north, she sat in such anticipation on that first sunday waiting for the ding dong man to arrive with her pots of winkles. The enormity of our move certainly sank in that day.

Then shortly after she found out that saveloys didn't exist oop north. My poor old mum, even the delicacies of chips and gravy and fish with curry sauce couldn't console her    

Gribbo

Leuth said:

killerandflash said:

Leuth said:

Covered End said:

Where have you moved to Leuth (if you wish to answer)?

East Finchley. I know. Traitor. 

Quite near me. I had wondered who had graffitied the Northern Line train with "Gilbey is a w*nker"

You jest! Actually, as North London goes it really isn't bad for getting to The Valley. Tube then train, takes just an hour. Could have been a lot worse

Youre right, it could take an hour and 15 minutes

Gribbo

killerandflash said:

Leuth said:

Covered End said:

Where have you moved to Leuth (if you wish to answer)?

East Finchley. I know. Traitor. 

Quite near me. I had wondered who had graffitied the Northern Line train with "Gilbey is a w*nkler"

Six-a-bag-of-nuts

Growing up on Abbey Wood Estate, we had a regular guy in a van coming around (I think on Sundays) selling seafood. From memory his cry used to be "Shrimps and Winkles".
Shrimps were like miniscule Prawns. Almost too small to justify the effort.
I do remember eating winkles. God knows why. Used to have to prize them out of the shell with a sewing needle or something. They looked like something you would pick out of your nose.
Probably tasted like it as well.
There seemed to be a constant stream of vendors or tradesmen passing through.
The Faggot Man (not an American euphemism), Toffee Apple Man, The Walls Ice Cream man, Mr. Whippy, Rossi, Tonibell, Corona soft drinks, Mackintosh's soft drinks, The Old Gypsy woman calling "Rag and Bone", The Milkman, The Baker, The Dustman and the Coalman. Probably forgot some.
Sorry, I digress.

Raith_C_Chattonell

Probably the most famous sea food name in London belonged to Tubby Isaac's.

I never called on his stall in Aldgate despite passing it on a daily basis.  I guess that's part of the reason for it's closure in 2013.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/06/13/so-long-tubby-isaacs-jellied-eel-stall/

Stig

I thought they were all killed off by Squiddley Diddley humanising fish

Six-a-bag-of-nuts

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

Probably the most famous sea food name in London belonged to Tubby Isaac's.

I never called on his stall in Aldgate despite passing it on a daily basis.  I guess that's part of the reason for it's closure in 2013.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/06/13/so-long-tubby-isaacs-jellied-eel-stall/

I courted a girl from Limehouse in the late 70's who introduced me to his shit famous stall 

Hal1x

Stig said:

I thought they were all killed off by Squiddley Diddley humanising fish

not forgetting Flipper and the Man from Atlantis.

MuttleyCAFC

It is an old London tradition, associated with its working class, sadly dying out now. The Anchor and Hope has a nice seafood/shell fish stall. I recall getting the winkles with my nan from outside our local in Islington as a boy. A fair bit of work teasing them out of the shell without breaking them using a saftey pin. Delicious though. I developed a taste for seafood and am one of the few who loves Whelks.

Gribbo

I was saying to my Mrs last night that me and my brother would go down to the one Peter Darkins had outside The Horse years ago, with a list from my nan or dad, and get Sunday tea. This was long before Peter eventually ended up running the pub itself. Can remember us all sitting round in the living room and getting the winkles out their shells with pins from my mums sewing box. 

Also, 2 of my good friends had a go at running one up outside The Woodman, Blackfen. Think it lasted a couple of years before both their Mrs started having kids and they didn't get the time to carry it on.

Maybe it being popular in London had something to do with London being a port years ago and also having Billingsgate Market to hand? I just always assumed it was popular all over the UK, a bit like fish & chip shops.

AndyG

We used to get ours from the stall outside The Sun In The Sands every sunday. Winkle sandwiches with vinegar & pepper and a pint of prawns. If I was really lucky some whelks as well

EugenesAxe

Hal1x said:

Stig said:

I thought they were all killed off by Squiddley Diddley humanising fish

not forgetting Flipper and the Man from Atlantis.

*That shark thing: he had more GCE’s than you!

bolloxbolder

Always used to be one outside the now defunct Great Harry in Parsonage Manorway Erith. 

HastingsRed

killerandflash said:

Leigh-on-sea near Southend has loads of seaford stalls

Same here.