Fresh Vs Frozen

Why Do We Only Offer Frozen Fish

We believe that freezing fish soon after it is landed (typically within 1-4 days depending on the type of fish and where it is coming from) gives you a better experience than eating fresh fish which may be kept chilled for a week or longer before it reaches your plate.
Committing to frozen also means we can offer you the widest range of fish, of the highest quality, at all times. Some fish are available only intermittently.
Most fish are at their best for just a few months of the year - this is the fish we want you to enjoy.
We believe that OUR frozen fish will give you the same eating experience as buying fish at the quayside and eating it straight away.

It's not because the fish was frozen, it was because the fish was inferior when frozen.

Until 50 years ago, most fish was caught by large trawlers which would undertake three week voyages to Iceland and other distant fishing grounds. UK waters were fished by smaller vessels which were back in port within a few days. These always had the best fish, because the fresher the fish at the point of landing, the better the quality. When commercial freezing was introduced, it was applied to the cheaper fish from the longer voyages. Frozen soon began to mean inferior. This reputation was largely justified, and it stuck. But it was not because the fish was frozen. It was because it was inferior when frozen.

Quality is determined by when, where and how the fish is caught, and how it is looked after between catching and delivery to your fridge or freezer.

Following the "cod wars" of the 1970s it is unusual for fishing trips to last longer than a week and poor quality long trip fish has become a thing of the past. There are still discernible variations in quality and "day boat fish" (from a fishing trip of 1-2 days) commands the highest prices, but fresh no longer means superior. These days, quality is determined by when, where and how the fish is caught, and how it is looked after between catching and delivery to your fridge or freezer. A good fresh fish display looks wonderful, but it takes its toll on the fish. Exposure to the air degrades fish. Everyone knows how tired the display can look at the end of the day. Some of the best fish is caught by specialised vessels which freeze their catch on board within hours. Our hook and line caught cod and haddock fillets from the well managed waters of Norway cost more than much of the cod and haddock landed fresh for processing onshore. This is because they are superior.

"If Our Fish Did Not Exceed The Quality Available In Supermarkets, We Wouldn’t Have a Business" Alistair Blaire

“With endless varieties of frozen fish to shop, you’ll be spoilt for choice”

“One of the best sources of fish by mail order. Everything is frozen, but don't let that put you off – it's to ensure freshness.”

“The best home fish delivery service”

“The Fish Society is a great source”

"The UK's Leading Online Fishmonger" - Gordon Ramsay

If you’re not buying your fish virtually fresh from the vessel (preferably in a picturesque Cornish fishing village) quality frozen fish is best. Your fish... Read More

If you’re not buying your fish virtually fresh from the vessel (preferably in a picturesque Cornish fishing village) quality frozen fish is best. Your fish should have been frozen soon after it was caught or harvested. Ideally, it will stay frozen until you are ready to cook it.

Proper fast commercial freezing never degrades fish. Not so that you would be aware of the difference when it was cooked and on the plate. Freezing stops things as they are right now. And when you defrost your fish, normal processes carry on. Everyone knows that fresh fish goes off fast. Supermarket fresh/defrosted fish typically has an expiry date X days ahead need this of when it goes on sale. Now in fact this is 100% safe and most taste buds wouldn’t know the difference most of the time. But why would you sell defrosted fish when – to us at least – it’s perfectly clear that quality would be maximised by selling it frozen, so that you would defrost it only when you were ready to cook it?

There are many other angles to this issue, including the refreezing of fish – a widespread, necessary, and harmless (if done right) procedure. We could go on. But your eyes are probably glazing over. If you’d like to chart this whole subject through with us sometime, email our chairman ab@thefishsociety.co.uk subject fresh vs frozen. He might invite you to a web session.

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In the eyes of some – especially older people, we carry a burden: we do not sell fresh fish - all our fish is frozen.Read More

In the eyes of some – especially older people, we carry a burden: we do not sell fresh fish - all our fish is frozen.

Why do they think that? In fact, there is a good reason.

When freezing of fish was commercialised in the 1950s and 1960s, the fish that was frozen was the cheap fish.

Imagine Grimsby Fish Market on a March morning in 1968. 500 tons of fish – most of it from big trawlers that had been away in Iceland and the Faeroe Islands for two weeks and maybe longer. Some of their catch was 10 days old on that March morning – still nutritious and good to eat… but a little bit tired. Further along the market was the inshore section – smaller boats, shorter voyages – sometimes just a couple of days.

Obviously, the inshore fish was better quality. It fetched higher prices. That’s the fish that went into the High Street fishmongers (well, the best ones). And who bought the 10 day old fish? Birdseye, Findus and Ross (these were the big names then) and other smaller companies who supplied supermarkets with frozen fish.

So, for several decades whilst your parents or their parents were forming their buying habits, fresh fish was better. Sometimes a lot better… some of those distant water vessels were away for three weeks not two. However well-iced they kept their catch, the earliest caught fish was on the edge by the time it was up for sale on that March morning.

This is why it became an article of faith amongst fish lovers that fresh is superior to frozen. It was undeniable.

But that was then.

If you can buy just-caught fresh fish straight from the boat, you cannot do better. But most fresh fish has done the rounds before you set eyes on it. Oh yes.. do you know, it has even been frozen?

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Why We’re Different

Of course, we are also committed to quality. If our fish did not exceed the quality available in supermarkets, we wouldn’t have a business. Quality is not just a matter of freshness. It’s also about cut and trim. We will sell you a whole fillet if that’s what you want, but most of our customers are looking for the prime piece of the fillet - what we call a fillet steak. They don’t want a Dover sole that’s too small to satisfy. They don’t want inferior grades of crab meat - they want claw meat. Over nearly 25 years we have discerned exactly what our very discerning customers want and that is what we give them.

And we are about service. It’s hard to convey the full meaning of what we see as good service, but it comes down to: 'Go the extra mile' and 'Do as you would be done by'. We try to apply the same attention to detail that we apply to cuts of fish and the delivery process to every aspect of our customer relationships.

If our fish did not exceed the quality available in supermarkets, we wouldn’t have a business!