If you don’t live close to a city that has a fresh food market, buying fresh seafood in the UK can be difficult. 30 years ago supermarkets introduced fresh fish counters along with butchery departments to make them a “onestop shop destination”. Unfortunately, that is now changing.
Pandemic Excuses
Starting in 2020, UK supermarkets used the distraction of a global pandemic to make changes that in normal times might have generated more reaction and protest from consumer groups.
Two of the four biggest British supermarket chains, Asda and Sainsbury’s, closed their fresh seafood counters in 2020 and 2021, sighting a need to cut costs even though they all posted record profits. In April 2022 Tesco joined them by closing the fresh seafood counters in 317 of its stores, giving many people on fixed income no choice if they want to buy fresh seafood.
Do supermarkets have some responsibility for creating this problem?
Starting in the 1990’s this push to open fresh seafood counters was seen as a good thing, but it soon began to squeezed out many of the independent fish mongers that existed in cities and towns up and down the UK. In the beginning, supermarkets sought industry advice from a group called Seafish who is a UK seafood leadership group and fishmongers were encouraged to come to work at supermarkets. However, in typical big business fashion the supermarkets didn’t do enough to train the additional staff they would need going forward or promote their fresh seafood departments, not just as a place to get fresh seafood but also as a source for information.
The Problems of Supermarkets Selling Seafood
UK supermarket upper management dictate what mix of seafood a supermarket can sell regardless of the ethic makeup of the area surrounding the store. Seafood managers have complained to me in the past that they could waste a lot less (seafood) if their head office would allow them to choose their own mix of what to sell based on customer requests. Some years back I have heard the same complaint from colleagues of mine from US.
Rigid Warehousing Systems
Rigid warehousing systems might work well for other types of goods but seafood is too perishable for that. Seafood bought from fish markets such as Grimsby then spends far too long being held at centralised warehouses rather than getting straight to the supermarkets. This obviously shortens the shelf of the seafood once it arrives. So in essence, poor inflexible management of Tesco’s Sainbury’s and Asda head offices has caused much of the waste or inconsistent quality.
Supermarket Management’s lack of seafood knowledge
There are “day boats” around some parts of the UK, that like the name says are only out fishing for a day before landing their catch. But many of the modern trawlers around most countries go out for a week, gut and ice the fish down so it could be a week old by the time it is landed. This of course makes it imperative to get the fish to the stores rather than sit for days in supermarket warehouses.
OneSize fits All
Another problem that supermarkets constantly get wrong is large size of its fresh seafood counters and there inflexibility. The stainless steel counters can look impressive on a Friday when it is fully stocked, but can look very uninviting on a Monday when the quanitity and the choice is much smaller. It would have been a much better if the fish counters were broken into sections that could be added to as the week progresses and demand increases. Some supermarkets within a group are clearly better at selling and promoting the fresh seafood than others, but this is always down to individual fishmongers rather an any training offered by the supermarkets.
Morrisons supermarkets (497 stores)
I contacted Morrisons, the only remaining supermarket company of the “big four” that continues to have an instore fresh seafood counter. Their press said, “That our fish counters will remain open.” I applaud them for not following Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, particularly for people on fixed income or that don’t live close to a city that has a market, or people who just prefer to see what they are buying rather than take a chance of buying online.
Waitrose supermarkets (331 stores)
Waitrose has 331 supermarkets in the UK of which 270 of them have a fish counter, they are positioned at the top end of the supermarkets so I’d expect them to keep their fish counters open. A Waitrose spokesperson said they intend keep them open and said, “We work extremely hard to ensure that our customers have access to an exciting variety of sustainable fish and seafood.”
Packed using Modified Atmosphere
Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco now sell so-called “fresh fish” that is packed using modified atmosphere. This involves the removal of most of the oxygen and being replaced with either nitrogen or carbon dioxide. The removal of the oxygen extends the shelf life of the seafood but that is with several caveats; firstly the seafood needs to be consistently fresh before packaging, and also the system relies on the packaging not being compromised. So my own experiences with fish packed this way is inconsistent freshness because the fish was not fresh enough before hand. This is down to management decisions on quality control. The other elephant in the room on this issue is one of the supply of carbon dioxide, as during the pandemic in the UK and other countries manufacturers could not keep up with demand. Not to mention the eco issue of whether we should be using more CO2 for food packaging as experts are telling us we have too much in the atmosphere already?
Online Fresh Seafood
The growing number of online seafood selling companies is a testimony to the constant search by the public for more consistent fresh seafood. But this growing online business prices many people out of buying seafood which is barmy considering the UK is a small island surrounded by water full of fish. Some of the seafood supplied is actually frozen and then thawed out so is negates the possibility of freezing part of the order if you are having to buy more than you can use to satisfy minimum orders or get free P & P. The other problem in this form of supply is the unreliability of couriers companies who don’t always deliver the highly perishable seafood in the specified times.
Lack of leadership from the Tory government
A bit like “Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burns”.. a phrase often heard to describe our current government’s lack of action to ensure the continued viability of both farming and the UK fisheries industries, particularly since Brexit. One of the many lies told during the Brexit campaign was that voting for Brexit would allow us to take back control of food issues and our seas. This fabrication caused many fishermen and farmers to vote for Brexit which in reality was akin to turkeys voting for Christmas. It is hard to understand why the government continue to allow super trawlers to operate in UK waters hoovering up fish as though there was an endless supply?
Years Ago in the US
A friend and colleague of mine David Fey, who was the most knowledgeable person I have ever met on seafood anywhere in the world. He was hired to help an American supermarket chain improve their fresh seafood counters, drive sales and cut costs, but had to admit defeat because of the rigid upper management that did not implement his recommendations.
Cooking on television
Part of the problem of buying seafood in the UK is a lack of education and knowledge of the buying public and their reluctance to ask questions for fear of seeming dumb and ill informed. Whilst cooking shows on TV abound there is very little if any cooking shows that focus on seafood, about how to buy it, store it, that could improve people’s knowledge and confidence.
Fish Emporium
My closest independant fish monger is called the Fish Emporium and is a round trip of 18 1/2 miles. Their quality is second to none so it does sell out fast! One of the useful things they do is post every day a 2-3 minute video of what fish they have that day which is very useful. I just wish other fish mongers would follow this great example and use the tech that is available.
My readers around the world
I’m really interested in hearing from my readers that don’t live near the coast, of their experiences of buying fresh seafood in 2022.
How to Filet a Fish Made Easy
Here is a link to my YouTube video
Buying and Storing Seafood
My hints and tips to improve your seafood buying and storing skills!
Source information:
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/tesco-closing-meat-fish-deli-22937717
A big thanks to Andy Gray who is the Trade Marketing Manager at Seafish for giving me his time and thoughts on this issue.
Chef Kevin Ashton 
Very informative article Kevin. Thanks.
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Thanks Katelon,
Best Wishes
Kevin
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We have not suffered here from a lack of fresh seafood but rather the out-of-sight prices. Halibut at $27 a pound! So Hubs and I get ours frozen from a place in Alaska, which packages perfect portions of halibut, cod, salmon, and other fish (you can choose) and sends it along once a month by air – the cost is pretty good for what we get and we are eating a lot more fish, as it is not out of our price range!
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Thanks Noelle, I am really happy to hear how and where people in America buy their seafood these days since its been so long since I lived there. I hear in Wash D.C they are charging $29.99 a pound for Canadian Halibut. Fish farming is what we need more of to keep the prices more stable. I know that Halibut is now being farmed in Canada, Iceland, the UK and Norway, the demand still outstrips the amount of fish they can grow via farming.
Best Wishes
Kevin
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I hadn’t really thought about it until I read this post of yours.
But now that I have, I’ve noticed that most of the major grocery store chains where I live in the Canadian prairie provinces no longer have fresh seafood counters anymore.
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Hi Christopher,
And thanks for taking the time to share how fresh fish availability is in your part of Canada has changed too. So what are the choices these days? Is the fish sold at grocery store chains packed using Modified Atmosphere or frozen?
Best Wishes
Kevin
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We live inland near Toronto and it is not easy to get good fresh seafood. I lived in England in the 70s and early 80s.There were still lots of fishmongers then in London. I am resisting the temptation to say “those were the days”.
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Hi Anne,
And thanks for sharing your experiences of the inland area near Toronto. Its been about 11 years since I visited Toronto and really enjoyed the food scene and the food markets there.
Do you ever buy fresh seafood online?
Being the capital London still has a fair few fish mongers plus the markets like Borough market and others, but if you live in a more rural area in the UK, choices are much more limited.
Best Wishes
Kevin
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I don’t buy any food online fish or otherwise. My husband does most of the cooking in our house and he does the grocery shopping. I sometimes accompany him. I make the salads that go with our meals.
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Beautiful post not only UK but we Indian also feel comfortable to buy fresh see fish from online sometimes we buy from local market also but online shopping is more easy. Well shared with video! 👌👌
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Thanks Priti for your kind words about my post and for sharing your own shopping experiences of buying seafood in India.
Best Wishes
Kevin 🙂
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It’s pleasure of mine Kevin. Best wishes to you and your family 💓
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Thanks Priti and best wishes to you and your family too. 💓
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🥰🥰🥰💕
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Very interesting, thank you for share, Kevin.
Have a great Sunday!
Keep well.
Elvira
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Thanks Elvira, I hope your weekend was relaxing and peaceful.
Best Wishes
Kevin 🙂
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You are welcome, Kevin.
Yes it was relaxing. Thank you.
Hope you are well. Take care.
All the best.🙂
Elvira
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Our seafood counters here contain mostly “previously frozen” seafood. Frozen seems to me to be a better option than that! When I lived in DC, we could walk to the fish market, a fascinating place to visit. Thank you for this informative post, Kevin. Hope all is well with you. ❤
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Thanks Cheryl,
My life right now is a dance between, writing, teaching cooking online and trying to buy a house 🙂
I do also buy frozen seafood myself, particularly when it comes things like jumbo shrimp (We call it king prawns). In the UK buying frozen is a hit and miss affair. On the good side the fish was very fresh when it was frozen (sometimes on the boat), on the down side some producers will put together salmon pieces that looks like a proper portion only for it to come apart when thawed out.
In the UK we tend to find Salmon, Cod, Haddock, or pollock fillets frozen. Do your stores offer more choice of frozen fish?
Maybe flounder or catfish?
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I think our stores are about average for the US, Kevin. Just about any seafood can be bought frozen. You can also purchase frozen prepared seafood such as crab cakes and breaded or seasoned fish fillets. of many kinds. Frozen salmon fillets are often sold individually wrapped in a bag so you can thaw only what you need.
Good luck with buying a house. Hope you find something you really like! ❤
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We are buying a new house, which we like very much the the developer is a pain. 🙂
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Even though ‘fresh fish’ is available here in Australia I tend to buy frozen fish – salmon generally. It’s a great standby, I’ve found, to have the convenience of fish in the freezer. I do, occasionally, buy fresh, but I’m hoping the frozen is as good… fingers crossed.
A great article, by the way!
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Hi Carolyn,
And thanks for joining the conversation. Frozen fish can be great in quality if it is processed and frozen at the time it was caught. I too have been known to go fishing in my freezer for a seafood dinner. I tend to buy frozen Cod or Haddock which is frozen at the source, when I want to use a medley of different seafood for a dish. I do also buy frozen salmon but here in the UK the quality of frozen salmon seems to be less consistent. I also find frozen King prawns Jumbo shrimp) a very consistent product worth buying.
Best Wishes
Kevin
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Our prawns are generally very fresh. Mind you, Kevin, that is not quite true; the prawns are always fabulous so partner Keith enjoys them a time or two each week with fish. I’ve never thought of buying frozen Cod or Haddock. Perhaps now I’ll give them a try. Fish is about the only meat I eat, so quality is of absolute importance!
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I bet my New Orleans born and raised, seafood loving daughter, who now lives in London, isn’t happy about that.
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Hi Blaine and welcome to my blog.
Like most capital cities fresh seafood options in London are more plentiful, than the more suburban and rural areas of the rest of the UK. That said I would be very interested in hearing your daughter’s take on seafood buying in London.
Best Wishes
Kevin 🙂
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Buying seafood in the USA has become troublesome as well. Wild caught vs farmed doesn’t make a difference in the pricing either. And as for oysters… one oyster in a jar for $8 bucks. 🥵
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Thank you for taking the time to tell me about the problems of buying seafood in the USA.
Having lived and worked 13 years in Maryland, Virginia and Wash DC I am very keen to keep up with the current food situation there.
Best Wishes
Kevin
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Some of us are from those areas and find that the shortages and uncleanliness is happening all over. Fishery farms are in.
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I am about an hour from the coast but the supermarkets here in central Brittany still have fresh fish counters and even tanks for live lobsters.
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Glad to hear that other places still understand that people want access to fresh fish at supermarkets.
Sorry for my slow response.
I’ve been without broadband since mid July, due to buying a new house, (I wont bore you with the technical and hair pulling details) but now I’m back, and wanting to catch-up and finish some of my draft posts that are looking at me in an accusatory fashion…
Best Wishes
Kevin
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You are very welcome!
Ha, I too endured a lengthy loss of broadband and so feel your pain! Hope the move went well and that you are settling into your new home! Stay well! 🙂
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One thing worth mentioning is, fish and seafood on the supermarket shelves is actually previously frozen and thawed out to appear fresh. It’s a very underhand way to trade, essentially conning the customer. It does state ‘previously frozen’ on the packaging but it’s always on the underside of the pack, their hope being it won’t be noticed. I completely understand that it’s impractical to transport fresh fish hundreds of miles inland, but it should be sold in a frozen state, not thawed out in the shop. Apart from the practice being incredibly dishonest, it’s detrimental to the quality and shelf life of the fish to thaw it out when it could easily last for weeks in the freezer.
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You make some very good points about the underhand practices of some supermarkets. Best Wishes Kevin
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