A Carlisle-based fishmongers that has been trading since 1967 recently scooped the title of UK fishmonger of the year at the Farm Shop & Deli Retailers Awards 2024.
Bell’s Fishmongers has been a family business since founder Jim Bell began travelling around Carlisle and the surrounding area in a mobile shop in the 1960s.
Seling a variety of fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, Jim was joined by his son Tony in 1979 when he left school, and soon moved into a shop in Denton Holme.
After two years trading from the shop, the firm moved into Carlisle Fish Market Hall in 1981, when there were five independent fish stalls to choose from. With a growing number of fruit and vegetable sellers, the father and son duo made the decision to concentrate on fish and by the early 1990s they were the only fishmongers left on the market.
Tony said: “My dad always used to say that he did 12 years but 13 winters in the van. They were cold and it was hard graft. He’d visit all the local towns and villages and I learned on the job.
“When we moved into the market in 1981, I was the youngest fishmonger there at just 18 and my father said it was an opportunity for Bell’s to have a long future in the business. He was right, we stuck it out and adapted to changes in market trends and consumer habits.”
In 2000, Tony decided to leave the market and set up a new shop at the city’s Kingstown estate. With shoppers increasingly travelling to the outskirts of town to do their shopping in supermarkets, and the gradual move away from town centres, Tony saw an opportunity to attract more customers and establish a base for the firm’s growing export market.
Tony said: “We had vans running all over the local area, serving the markets in Brampton, Wigton, Aspatria, Keswick, Dalston and Annan.
“We opened a shop in Penrith which was eventually taken over by one of our former employees and is still running today.
“We also started serving the hospitality and hotel trade through our partnership with Pioneer, and this really helped the business to grow.
“My father told me that we couldn’t compete with the supermarkets and that it was pointless trying to. His advice to me was to stick what you can do and do it well, just do your job and the customers will come to you.”
The firm’s partnership with local wholesalers Pioneer led to Bell’s being invited to operate a concession when they opened their large food hall section at the firm’s Rosehill headquarters.
Now providing fish, game and added value added products such as sauces and homemade fishcakes, Bell’s soon had a full-time staff of 14, with a further 12 seasonal staff recruited every year for the busy August – February period.
Tony said: “Game season puts demand from our European customers up, we export all over the continent – there is a huge appetite for British game produce such as pheasant and partridge.
“Brexit was misleading. The politicians said the UK fishing industry would be in control of its own destiny, with its own fishing quarters. They didn’t tell us that this process would take years to implement and it’s still ongoing. It’s affected a lot of fishermen – from the independent trawlers to the big companies.”
Tony’s son Philip is now learning the ropes of running the business with his father, the third generation of the Bell family to provide a quality to service to a loyal and ever-growing customer base.
Philip acknowledges the impact that Brexit and the Covid pandemic has had on the firm, inspiring them to adapt to the unpredictable consumer landscape.
Philip said: “Covid was actually a good thing for our business. People still had to eat, and they had more time on their hands.
“Our main supplier in Peterhead, Scotland used to deliver the fish to us in Carlisle, then travelled on to Preston, Manchester and Birmingham. When the markets in those towns closed, we decided we’d go to Peterhead instead. We had the vans, we had the drivers, so it made sense for us to switch things round and go and collect.
“It meant we didn’t have the full variety as we did previously, but it kept us going and we were able to meet the demand from our customers, both retail and wholesale.”
With more than 50 fresh items on display at all times, from cod and haddock to king crabs and lobsters, the business is split approximately 50/50 between retail customers and the wholesale market.
Tony said: “If it runs, swims or flies, we sell it. The world is a small place nowadays. We serve everybody from the old lady looking for one piece of cod, right through to delivering a truckload of frozen game to Europe.
“We work with local and international partners to supply our stock – for example our wild seabass comes from the Solway. Our tuna and swordfish is from Indonesia, bass and bream from the Mediterranean.
“I love my work, you don’t get up at three o’clock every morning if you don’t enjoy what you do!”
With consistent growth and a newly refurbished shop completed in 2021, the future looks very positive for Bells. Whilst Tony harbours no desire to retire or slow down, Philip is looking ahead to ensure the legacy of the family business.
Philip said: “We’re looking for bigger premises now, we don’t need more shops, just a bigger one.
“It’s a very proud feeling for us both coming to work every day and seeing our name above the door and knowing how much our customers love what we do and what we sell.
“If you’re eating a piece of quality fish or seafood in the region, there’s a good chance it came from Bell’s, and that’s what drives us to keep building the business.”
