A fishmonger on Holton Road since 1979: nine Welsh boats, the van at Milford market at half past four, the board on this website with what is in and what has gone, a smokehouse in the yard, and fish and chips at home on a Friday.
Closed for today; opens tomorrow at 8:00am
This morning's landing from Milford Haven has been on the slab since 8am; lines marked gone are gone for today.
The shop
01
Twenty-odd lines on the slab on a normal day: cod, haddock, hake and pollock from the Milford day boats, plaice, sole and turbot when they land, bass and bream in season, mackerel and herring, sardines in summer, and whatever the night brought that we did not expect. Whole or filleted while you wait, priced per kilo or each, the boat on the ticket.
Cod fillet £24.
02
Behind the shop is a brick kiln Gethin's father built in 1984. Herring become kippers over oak; haddock is brined and cold-smoked pale, without the dye; salmon is cured and cold-smoked for a day and a night; mackerel is hot-smoked with pepper. Smoked on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; the smokehouse page says what is in the kiln this week.
Kippers £4.
03
The crab and lobster come from three boats off the Gower and arrive alive; we cook them in the yard each morning and dress the crab by hand. Menai Strait mussels by the kilo, rock oysters from Pembrokeshire, scallops in the shell when the divers go out, langoustines, prawns and a cockle from Penclawdd. Lobster to order, cooked or live.
Dressed crab £7.
04
A box for two, four or six, ordered by Thursday 6pm and collected on Friday between four and seven: skinless haddock or cod fillets from that morning's landing, our batter mix, chips cut from Pembrokeshire potatoes and par-cooked, mushy peas, tartare made here, a lemon, and a card that gets it on the table in twenty minutes. The order page takes it.
The box for two £19, for four £36, for six £52.
05
About twenty kitchens get the van before nine, Tuesday to Saturday: pubs in the Vale, restaurants in Penarth and Cardiff, two cafés, a hotel. The same fish as the counter from the same boats, filleted and portioned to spec, with the day's price sheet by text at half past six, a £120 minimum, and a thirty-day account after three months.
Trade prices about fifteen per cent under the counter, texted at 6:30am each day.
06
Two hours on a Saturday morning at the back bench with Siân: how to tell a fresh fish, how to gut and fillet a round fish and a flat fish, how to skin and pin-bone, how to open an oyster and dress a crab, and how to cook what you have done. Six people, £45, your own knife to keep, and you take your fish home. Dates and seats on the order page.
£45 a person for two hours, a filleting knife to keep, and the fish you filleted to take home.
Today
Thick loin fillets or the whole fish; the Friday box fish
The fryer's fish. Skinless and pin-boned on request
Welsh hake, the chefs' choice; steaks on the bone or fillets
Cheap, firm and underrated; fishcakes and the pie
Whole for the grill, or filleted; spotted and firm
Sweet, quick in butter; one each
Written at eight when the slab is laid out; a line is marked gone within the hour of the last of it selling. The boat and the landing day are on the ticket in the shop and on the line here.
The next boxes are for Friday 23 October; order by Thursday 6pm, 1 day away. Haddock or cod from that morning’s landing, batter mix, blanched chips, mushy peas, tartare, a lemon and the card: twenty minutes to the table.
Order a box for four
Friday boxes
Two fillets a head of skinless, pin-boned haddock or cod from Friday’s landing, our batter mix for a bottle of cold lager, chips cut thick from Pembrokeshire Maris Pipers and blanched here, marrowfat mushy peas, tartare made in the shop, a lemon, and a card with the order of cooking and the temperature of the pan. For two £19, four £36, six £52 with a tub of curry sauce.
The smokehouse
Gethin’s father built it in 1984 from a drawing of one in Craster. Kippers over oak for fourteen hours, haddock brined and cold-smoked pale, salmon cured overnight and smoked for a day and a night, mackerel hot-smoked with pepper. It runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and the smokehouse page says what is in it this week.
How we work
The board on this website is the slab: when the last of the turbot sells at eleven, the line is marked gone within the hour. We would rather you knew on Holton Road than found out at the counter.
A boat that goes out for a night and comes back is dearer than a trawler that stays out a fortnight, and the fish is better for it. The price on the ticket is what that costs plus a living; nothing is a loss leader.
Undersized fish, out-of-season crab and berried lobsters go back. We do not sell skate wings, we are careful with bass, and we will tell you when something on the board is better left this month.
Frames and heads go into stock sold by the litre; trimmings into the fishcakes; what is left on Saturday goes to the Barry food bank's kitchen on Sunday afternoon. A fishmonger who throws fish away did not buy it right.
Fish school
Two hours at the back bench with Siân, six people at most: how to choose a fish, gut and fillet a round one and a flat one, skin and pin-bone, open an oyster, dress a crab, and cook a fillet the way we would. £45, a knife to keep, and everything you filleted goes home with you on ice.
Customers
I check the board on the website at eight and know whether the turbot is in before I put my shoes on. Last week it said gone by eleven and I went for the lemon sole instead. That is the whole point of a website and nobody else does it.
The Friday box for four, every other week since 2021. Fish landed that morning, batter that works, chips that are chips. Twenty minutes and the kids think I can cook. The card is laminated now because it has been through the dishwasher twice.
The kippers are the real thing: pale, oaky, bones you can deal with. I post them to my father in Shropshire on Mondays and he rings on Wednesday to say they arrived. The smoked haddock converted a man who thought it was supposed to be yellow.
Nine boats: six day boats out of Milford Haven, which land overnight and whose catch our van collects at half past four; three pot boats off the Gower for the crab and lobster. Mussels from a Menai Strait rope farm, oysters from a Pembrokeshire creek, salmon from one Scottish farm we have visited. The boat is on the ticket.
Yes. It is written at eight when the slab is laid out, and a line is marked gone within the hour of the last of it selling. It is the same list as the chalkboard in the shop; filter it by white, oily, shellfish or smoked, and by whole or filleted.
Yes, while you wait, for nothing: filleted, skinned, pin-boned, portioned to a weight, the frame bagged for stock. Say what you are cooking and we will say which fish and how.
Order by Thursday 6pm on the order page, by phone or at the counter: a box for two, four or six with haddock or cod from Friday's landing, batter mix, chips, peas, tartare, a lemon and the card. Collect Friday between four and seven, or delivered within five miles for £4. Twenty minutes to the table.
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons within about five miles for £4, free over £50. Pubs, restaurants and cafés get the van before nine, Tuesday to Saturday, with a £120 minimum and the day's sheet by text at half past six.
Saturday's landing, sold from nine until noon at the Sunday price, which is about a third off, until it is gone, which is usually by half past ten. First come, first served, and we are honest that it is a day old and still better than most.
A box for two, four or six: haddock or cod landed that morning, batter mix, blanched chips, mushy peas, tartare, a lemon and the card. Order by Thursday 6pm, collect Friday four till seven or have it delivered within five miles. The same form takes a counter order, a lobster, or a seat at fish school.
