Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 16th July, 2023)

I wonder where they get the fish from?..I hope it’s not from the boat on yesterdays p.a.d.

The 01253 phone number is Blackpool....I wonder if the fish being sold was caught there? Some of the clever business names on vans really make you smile! A greengrocer's shop in Ince when I was growing up used to sell a bit of fresh fish, usually finny haddy, and I can still smell the aroma of it, along with apples and pears, cabbage and cauliflowers. You could walk in there blindfolded and know you were in a fruit and veg shop by the smell....I wonder why you never get that smell around the fruit and veg stalls in supermarkets? It was the same with chemists shops, drapers and stationers....they had a distinctive smell back then. Anyway, the general appearance of the van gives the impression that the business is doing well....nice to see that in an age when we are losing shops left, right and centre. Good Luck to "Some-Fin-Fishy"!

There used to be a dog walking service where I live called Barker and Bonehouse.

We used to have a fish and vegetable street van in the 1960s, Tommy Michelle was his name. A blue type of pick-up vehicle, scale on the back too. He was always busy and did well around the streets of Hindley and Ince.

How fresh is the fish on any of these vehicles and how long does fresh fish keep?

Irene, there’s a message for you yesterdays post. I couldn’t explain too much as it is or was classified secret. ;o)

If you ask that woman for some finny haddy, she wont have a clue of what you talking about, beware of anything that sell s from the back of vans.

I have bought plenty fish & shellfish from the van, a bit pricey but good quality.

I vaguely remember a fish man coming round in the 50’s and my mam going with a brown enamel ladle can and coming back with it full of mussels.Fresh fish and seafood is getting harder to find.

I occasionally buy a pair of Manx Kippers from this lady on the fish van.

A fish van used to come round Abram and Platt Bridge in the 1980s/90s and the fish was always fresh, and there was always a queue waiting at the places where he parked up. People wouldn't have returned week after week had the fish been "off" .
I got the hush-hush message, Veronica....Over and Out, partner!

The fish from the van is very high quality, always fresh and reasonably priced. Silly Mick, how would you feel if someone had badmouthed your business when it was open without first sampling your wares.

There is a van to be seen around Wigan with the business name of Bonnie Tiling.

I would imagine the fish is from Fleetwood, the famous fishing town. Fleetwood sounds more likely than Blackpool.
Blackpool alright for toffee Rock, hotdogs and candyfloss.

derekb yeah seen that van,it's the bonnie tiler

There is a Some Fin Fishy fishmonger at Grange over Sands and with the same mobile number, and yet the landline code is as Irene says Blackpool, though I suppose they now have to travel here and there to try to get trade, and I too would imagine they get the fish from Fleetwood. There's a big fish company there who also have vans who are here and there in areas throughout the week.
https://www.darrensfreshfish.com/about.html

When I was looking for info on the fish trailer photos of fish from Eccleston Delph came up in the search, there's some interesting fish swimming around in there and a lot of other things too.
https://www.thedelph.com/index.php

Go to Gallery and then down to Wildlife to see photos of the fish, though all the photos are interesting. It was here they found the handless body of a murder victim. Go to History then down to The Handless Corpse. Or read the press article below which contains far more detailed and at length grisly information: https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/handless-corpse-chorley-murder-case-17183947

A lot of fishmongers have closed, but there's a few who have a sense of humour, The Codfather, Battersea Cods Home, The Prawnbrokers and Your Plaice or Mine.

The 01253 dialling code isn't just Blackpool.
It also covers Fleetwood.

Dockside fish and sea foods from Fleetwood. I don't the this van would come all the way from Grange over Sands.

I like the thought that the fish may be fresh from Fleetwood and I LOVE the name "Your Plaice or Mine"! Brilliant!

Irene, Joanne is 'The Fairy Cod Mother' and her fish van calls at Fleetwood, Padiham and Darwen, she was interviewed in March by the Lancashire Telegraph: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23358977.fleetwood-fishmongers-first-day-darwen-market-huge-success/


Malc, I didn't say that the van had come all the way down to here from Grange over Sands - though with the same mobile number it obviously is something to do with Some Fin Fishy the fishmongers there.

They may well employ Freelancers and who buy their fish and seafood from the many suppliers that are at Fleetwood. Though if they want customers they will travel, what about Regal Fish who travel all over from out of Grimsby.

Cyril...Try and edit your comments they are long in the tooth. The fish is almost and mose sensible from Fleetwood. Not Grimsby, and never Grange over sands. Docklands fish and seafood from Fleetwood.

For decades Fleetwood was the main fishing depot for the UK.

Fleetwood Docks fishing bay is only a shadow today from its glory heyday. Fish was distributed to towns all over the UK. Its still operating today called docklands sea foods. It al so had busy rail links.

My Grt grandmother was a fish hawker around Scholes and they had a shop as well in Ince. I remember my dad telling me about her.
She always called to my grandmother’s house and gave her fish for free. She was a kindness itself to them as her son went off to Yorkshire during the big strike to work in the pits leaving his wife and children...
Not much different in hawking the fish on a hand cart to selling fish from a van. Perhaps we will see more of this kind of scenario with shop closures.

I don’t think Cyril’s comments are long in the tooth. Plus what he says is interesting and saves having to look up any further. Those who wish to look further can do. I have problems with the ‘paste’ and ‘copy’ which doesn’t always work for me. I did manage to look up Joanne’s fish van. She looks a rather jolly lady. Reminds me of my Grt grandmother who hawked fish on a handcart around Scholes.

Spot on Veronica.

I think Cyril's comments are interesting and informative and he is an excellent contributor to p-a-d. Like Veronica, I am not clever when it comes to following "links" but I can usually manage to find the information that Cyril points out through other methods, albeit a bit slower than if I could copy and paste. Photo-a-day often brings back memories to me and I tend to tell stories about those memories, some of which people might find long-winded, but if people don't want to read them they can just scroll past.

In the bottom paragraph of 22:26, of course that should have read Franchisers and not Freelancers!

Veronica, more or less every street in Scholes was a steep hill too, hard work when pushing a handcart along them.
Joanne the fish lady does look jolly, and looks to know her trade too and will give you the fish you require whatever the name you may call it. Hope she does well!

Mick de Malc & Co, the prawn ball and crab cake company you keep mentioning, do you get sent all the smelly stuff they can't be rid of?
you'll be loving it smothered with this: https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/272125465

Go to Grimsby the UKs No1 fishing port, you will get 'Fish, Fresh From the Trawlers' there! Morrisons supply all of their supermarkets across the length and breadth of the UK with the Freshest of Fish, and that is of course from Grimsby!
https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/grimsby-star-new-morrisons-tv-1778012

Morrisons process all of their own fish for their supermarkets, which is fresh off the trawlers and at Grimsby, of course:
https://youtu.be/8Atl_deizZI

The Fish Farmer magazine - article about Morrisons fish production operation in Grimsby. Around 200 tonnes of seafood passes through the current site each week, mainly cod, haddock, salmon and prawns. The fish is then processed and distributed the same day to Morrisons supermarkets around the country: https://www.fishfarmermagazine.com/processing-3/morrisons-confirms-grimsby-fish-expansion/

The best fish is from my local chippy , just round corner. Good price and tasty.