This is the start of a new (2024) list, and we’ll add as we cruise. The bold blue type shows places we have seen, heard or read about but not yet tried.
Scotland
Oban Seafood Hut, Argyll. The best we’ve found. Open late March to end October, on the dock by the ferry terminal, informal eating area next to it with benches and a large table. Lobster, crab (uncooked, dressed or in sandwiches), oysters cleaned in their own tanks, mussels cooked or takeaway, scallops cooked with garlic, hot smoked salmon, prawns, langoustines etc etc. Large and small seafood platters. No website, no booking needed, just queue, informal and fast. Oban Transit Marina (three nights max) is a short walk away.
Tobermory Fish Co. Mull. A walk up the hill behind the village. Good selection of fresh fish and shellfish – it was here we were offered a choice of ordinary scallops or ‘happy scallops’, which were picked by local divers rather than dredged (ruining the seabed ecosystem). The price reflects the higher cost of harvesting. This is also a specialist smokehouse.
Pontoon berths and visitor moorings, room to anchor in the bay.
Loki Seafood Hut, Skara Brae This was a delightful surprise on a visit to the unmissable neolithic village on the west coast of Orkney Mainland – a fresh seafood stall in the walled garden of Skaill House, a couple of hundred meters from the Skara Brae visitor centre. Between us we tried crab, scallops, mussels and langoustines, sitting at benches in the garden – all excellent. https://www.orkney.com/listings/loki-seafood-shack#
Bay too exposed to anchor. Bus from near marinas in Kirkwall or Stromness.
Loch Fyne Oyster Bar (plus restaurant and take away), Clachan, Cairndow, Loch Fyne. It’s years since we visited to buy a takeaway, and that was by car, but I’m listing it because this still looks from the website like one of Scotland’s few local seafood destinations with everything you could find in France. It’s also now a national seafood brand. However, I cannot see anywhere nearby to safely leave a boat, and it’s right at the far end of the loch. Maybe still just a place to drop into driving home?
Arbroath Fisheries, Arbroath: not the full seafood experience but a famously strong smoked haddock taste to be tried at least once. Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status meaning it can only be produced in the locality, so much harder to find than kippers. Available direct from shops near the harbour eg E&O Fresh Fish, C Lyons Fresh Fish, M&M Spink and Arbroath Fisheries.
Small, well-serviced fishing harbour with a gate and visitor moorings. Passage timing has to be good. They waited 5 minutes for us once when we were almost there, but are generally pretty strict in keeping to the opening and closing times.
Yorkshire
Whitby has several good fishmongers eg The Whitby Catch https://www.thewhitbycatch.co.uk/
Sandgate Seafoods https://sandgateseafoodswhitby.co.uk/
Cod Roe Fishmongers, Baxtergate, no website
The restaurant trade is dominated by fish and chips, which is fine when it’s done properly with clean oil and a light batter. Trenchers was good. https://www.trenchersrestaurant.co.uk/
Fortune’s Kippers, Whitby. This is a very different fish experience, but well worth it. Get there early in the day to buy their freshly smoked kippers, a great delicacy to take back to the boat.
https://fortuneskippers.co.uk/
Visitor pontoons are on the opposite side of the harbour, a 10 minute walk away.
East Anglia
The Company Shed West Mersea, near Colchester, Essex. On a jetty, above the water, couldn’t be fresher, superb local oysters, plenty of other fresh seafood and some smoked. Very popular, and they now allow booking – used to be queue only, though you can still do that, but not advisable at popular times. Can also buy fish and shellfish uncooked to take away.
https://www.the-company-shed.com/
Visitor moorings, summer water taxi.
Jameshunt Fisheries, Felixstowe Ferry Suffolk. between the sailing club and the ferry to Bawdsey Quay. Fishmonger with wide range of local fish and shellfish. Last place we found smoke sprats, which are hard to get.
Visitor moorings are usually available nearby and the ferry will pick up from yachts in season when it’s running. No website.
Southwold Harbour, Suffolk (actually nearer to Walberswick with a little ferry ride, or a longer walk to the bridge). Excellent local fish and shellfish stalls – oysters, mussels, crabs, lobsters, white fish of many kinds, smoked fish. The biggest, Sole Bay Fish Company, has a restaurant. https://www.solebayfishco.co.uk/
The other fish shops nearby are Samantha Kay’s Fresh Fish (nearest to the visitor pontoon) and Christina Cara Fish Shop, neither with websites. They all had smoked sprats on their lists in 2024 (for those who acquire the taste, delicious eaten whole with bread and a glass of Adnams IPA) but none available. Sole Bay Fish Co said sprats had vanished locally (2024) and were only available imported from Holland.
The shops will keep your fish while you go for a walk or a drink, or pack it with ice if you’ll be eating later.
The Harbour Inn has a restaurant – the fish and chips are good.
Always call harbour master for advice before entering – can be tricky. If you go in during the strongest hours of the flood, note that you have to turn before the visitor berths, which can be a bit alarming with a low bridge not far away.
Pinney’s Butley Orford Oysterage, Suffolk: Excellent simply cooked, ultra-fresh, seafood restaurant, including local oysters, smoked fish. Book well ahead. Their seafood shop is down by the quay – fresh fish and shellfish and superb smoked fish, which comes at a price, but that’s for quality.
https://www.pinneysoforford.co.uk/our-restaurant/
Visitor moorings in river, dinghy ashore, last time we went the ferry to Orford Ness was also a water taxi.
Butt and Oyster, Pin Mill, Suffolk – mentioned partly as a warning if you’re seeking the real thing. Have never seen an oyster there. Otherwise a fine pub, probably the most famous one on the east coast, with a lovely view of the Orwell, but a misleading name. Offers conventional pub food only.
Visitor moorings, but don’t use hard near low tide unless you are a mudlark. Alternative is night at Woolverstone or Royal Harwich marina, and a pleasant one mile woodland walk.
Channel coast
Bickerstaffs, West Quay, Newhaven, Sussex: excellent fish and shellfish retailer and wholesaler right on the harbour, a while since we’ve sampled – bought delicious fresh scallops – but their current Facebook page still shows a wide range of freshly caught seafood.
Drawback is not the fishmonger quality but the marina – limited visitor berthing, can’t be booked, and poor facilities.
Weyfish in the Old Fish Market on Custom House Quay, Weymouth. Perfect for taking fish and shellfish back to the boat to prepare. No longer a market but a retail shop with a good range of local fish and shellfish and a restaurant.
https://www.weyfish.com/
A short step away from the east-side visitor pontoon.
West country
Anchorstone Cafe, Dittisham. On last visit in 2019, a close approximation to the seafood restaurants you find in harbours across the channel, with lovely view of the jetty and moorings near Dartmouth. Looks from website as if some major personnel changes in 2022, so can’t vouch for it now, maybe a visit next season.
https://anchorstonecafe.co.uk and also on Facebook.
Visitor moorings, land by dinghy, or ask the ferry to pick you up.
Falmouth has a famous fleet of sailing boats that dredge for oysters in the estuary. This inefficient method of harvesting, by modern standards, is a good way to preserve stocks. The town used to have several good fish and shellfish shops, but it’s been so long since we visited that I’ll leave listing them till after we call in on next year’s cruise.
Helford River: oysters used to be available from a shed at Porth Navas, a short dinghy trip up a side creek from the Helford visitor moorings. Eaten fresh in the cockpit they were a delight. Mussels could be bought there too. But the business closed some years ago, after we last visited the creek (though we’ve made several brief passage stops in Helford River since, without time to inflate the dinghy). Oysters from the river still seem to be available on line and from Falmouth. We’ll check out what’s available when we’re next there, hopefully in 2025.
Newlyn, Cornwall As you would expect in a major fishing port, there are several excellent fishmongers along the harbour, overlooking the trawlers and crabbers, all off which can provide you with the freshest possible seafood to take back to your boat.
Stevensons: https://www.wstevenson.co.uk/
Fresh Cornish Fish: https://www.fresh-cornish-fish.co.uk/
Trelawney Fish on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1GmN9XHNKt/
There is an attractive menu at Argoe, a seafood restaurant on the harbour edge, but we have not tried it yet. https://www.argoenewlyn.co.uk/
In the town is the Mackerel Sky Seafood Bar which we did try – very good. https://mackerelskycafe.co.uk/
Newlyn is an all tides harbour, unlike Penzance almost next to it, where you have to lock in. There are a few finger berths at the end of a longer pontoon for small fishing boats and, if full, the Newlyn harbourmaster may direct you to raft alongside one of the bigger vessels in the main dock area. You’ll have to scramble across their gear to get ashore.
Padstow. We spent three nights there recently, and it was a disappointment because it was extremely crowded and the attractive fish restaurants, including the famous Rick Stein, were booked solidly well ahead. We did find a first rate traditional seaside supper at Padstow Fish and Chips, overlooking the harbour, where we locked in and moored against the wall.
To check on a future visit: Porthilly Farm: https://www.porthillyshellfish.com/
It’s a wholesale and retail oyster and mussel producer near Rock, across the River Camel, which requires a fery ride, because there are no deepwater moorings there.
tide by tide 