The Old Fishery

We didn't always have our swanky purpose built fishery, not that long ago we were in a nissan hut on Pewit Island, well back before 1970, which isn't that long ago.

Back in the old fishery, the men working in the hut came and went to the fishery by boat and messages and orders were passed to them by pigeon, yes really. Looking at the pictures below you can see why!

Although we haven't used the hut for a long time, you can still see the tractor engine that helped to bring the oysters onto the island when the tide was low and the tables inside where the men worked.

Tiny, who runs our Oyster Room used to work in the hut and has so many stories of what it was like, when they had to battle the river to get the the island and how they worked through storms. We hope to share some of these stories with you soon.

The oysters went back with the men to Brighlingsea where they went by train to London and on to the restaurants of the time.

The fishery has come a long way from these humble beginnings, but the processes are still much the same; we dredge the oysters, clean, grade and pack them just like we did in the hut. The main difference is the purification and testing that the oysters go though now and that we have machinery to help clean the oysters. Plus the new buildings allow us to offer lobsters and other shellfish to you.