The people taking on supermarkets from stalls, vans and family-run shops

I'm walking through Birkenhead on my way to speak to Nigel Buckmaster, co-owner of independent fishmonger, Wards.

A decade or two ago, you could walk into any high street or supermarket and leave happily with a supply of high-quality fish, meat, fruit and vegetables - during a time when eating healthily was at least accessible for everyone. However in 2024, fresh produce - especially fresh fish - is becoming much more difficult to come by, even in a coastal region such as Merseyside - and there are several reasons why this is the case.

Nigel and Simon Buckmaster are the fourth generation owners of Wards Fish in Birkenhead. The fishmonger has been around for almost 100 years and, in addition to its retail store, it supplies some of the region's top restaurants - Nord, The Art School and Panoramic 34 among them.

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Nigel spoke to the ECHO about the cause of a decline in both independent fishmongers and supermarket fish counters. He said: “When supermarkets expanded in the 80s and 90s, they put counters in all of their shops: fish, butchers and deli counters. However, the problem with those is that they’re not very profitable - they’re expensive to man and expensive to run.

“Fish is a high-value product - you have to send a ship out, man it, put fuel in it; then you’ve got to take it to port, get someone to process the product, store it and then transport it on a refrigerated wagon - that’s expensive. Then you bring it to retail and they need to store it and man the shop - there’s loads of fridges involved, loads of freezers - our electricity bill here is £5,000 per month.

“So when Covid happened, it was the perfect excuse for some of the supermarkets to close all their counters down."

Nigel said when the supermarkets made the change, it also put many independent fishmongers out of business. He added: "The supermarkets had the market share for years. The rise of the supermarkets led to the demise of independent retailers on the high street.

“We’ve battled on but our retail shop is completely different to how it was 20, 30, 40 years ago; we’ve had to have a much wider range, focus on customer service and focus even more on quality. When you focus on quality, products tend to be more expensive than what you find in the supermarket."

While seafood in Wards may set you back more money than it might in supermarkets, one customer, who has been shopping there for over 20 years, insisted: “Something is only expensive if you don’t think it is worth the money - this place is not expensive. It may be dearer than other places but you get what you pay for."

Nigel added: “While some of our products are out of the reach of many people, we do have value options; we sell fish pie packs for £6 and you can feed a family of six off one of them. If you can cook and manage a larder, you can eat relatively inexpensively."

Back across the Mersey in Sefton, another independent fishmonger proving popular amongst locals is Tony's Fresh Fish. Tony Kemp sells his produce from the back of a van in Crosby, next to Blues Bar every Tuesday morning, in addition to Formby on Wednesdays and Culcheth on Thursdays.

He thinks "a lot more people should be eating fish" but has recently found that many are beginning to choose it over meat. He said: "You've got a lot more pescatarians these days. In Europe they love seafood but they want everything on the bone. Here, however, people want their fish ready to go so everything I get is prepared just how the customers want it.

"Fish has great nutritional value and with a local fishmongers, you've got guaranteed freshness - I'm here for four hours every Tuesday and you know everything will be fresh. In some supermarkets, food can be sitting around for a while."

Tony has been serving the people of Crosby for 18 years and sells "anything he can possibly get". He added: "We get things in seasonally, so stuff like fresh mackerel, sardines, cod, haddock and plaice. The fish I source comes from all over the country."

In the south end of the city, on Allerton Road, stands B. Shrigley and Son, which has developed a loyal following of customers who regularly pop in to buy some fresh fish and "have a chinwag." Brian Shrigley has worked full time in his fishmongers since he was 17, after originally telling his mates that he was only going to work there "over Christmas".

He told the ECHO: "I stayed because I enjoyed working with the public - I still enjoy those conversations you have when people come in. I love going to the market every day and picking out the fish."

It's quality which Brian said has kept the shop open in the face of massive changes. He previously said: "It's quality all the way. We go to the market every day and bring in fresh fish.

"We sell a lot of traditional stuff that you can't get anymore - sole fish and things like that. And you get into exotic things that people want when they're abroad and I buy it in for them.

"Our family has always salted our own cod. We never buy it, we do our own salting."

One supermarket which still sells from a fish counter is Booths. A spokesperson for the company said: “Booths are proud of their fish counters, which are freshly stocked daily with much of the fish we sell coming from British coastal waters.

"Our fishmongers pride themselves on being able to suggest the most sustainable options, like Skrei, a Norwegian cod famed for it’s flaky texture or chalk stream trout, farmed in Hampshire.

"We bring whatever weekend catch is abundant and offer weekend fish deals for our customers to enjoy. Booths pride ourselves on great produce, service and knowledge and invest in fully staffed fish counters to bring the very best fish and seafood to our customers.”

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