A recent survey asked 1,000 Londoners what type of “old-fashioned” High Street specialist shop they most missed. The No.1 answer -- with more than a third of respondents -- was the traditional fish shop, or fishmonger.
Fishmongers have seen their numbers decimated in recent years in many countries across Europe. There were many reasons for their demise. Food from other continents became increasingly popular. As the final blow, new mega-supermarkets took over the vast majority of fish sales.
Some 6,000 British fish mongers have shut their doors the past 20 years -- nearly 75 percent of the original total.
