An ancient insititution, London's Billingsgate Market is where both The Fish Shop at Kensington Place and the restaurant of the same name, source much of their fresh fish. The Artful Diner joins Marcus from The Fish Shop one very early morning...

2.15am West London

The alarm goes.

2.50am Chelsea

I meet Marcus on a street off the King’s Road, Chelsea, where he is sitting in the front of his fish van. It smells pretty much as it sounds. But I’ve come prepared, wearing my oldest clothes and a pair of leopard-skin wellies I borrowed (they go down well with the market porters later).

Marcus gets up at this ungodly hour, sometimes earlier, five mornings a week to buy fish for the Fish Shop and a number of D&D restaurants. We sit in the van while he takes down the orders left on his voicemail earlier that night. “A side of organic salmon, two kilos of king squid and the same amount of sardines…” – the list goes on.

At most in one night he will supply 13 different customers and his deliveries won’t finish until midday.

3am Westminster

As we drive past Big Ben, Marcus gives me the lowdown on what to expect once we arrive at Billingsgate, which is now situated in the shadow of Canary Wharf. Its origins go back to 1327 – for hundreds of years it was on the banks of the Thames, in the City, before the move to Docklands in 1982 – and it is still the UK’s largest inland fish market.  Fish arrive nightly from ports like Penzance or Aberdeen, while 40% is imported.

Some 54 merchants trade in the Market Hall, where they employ white-coated porters to bring the fish in to the stands and take it away once sold. The porters operate under a system of byelaws, dating from 1876. Recent attempts by the City of London Corporation, which runs the market, to overhaul these laws has prompted protest from the porters and there is a sense that change may well be afoot.

3.25am Billingsgate, Canary Wharf

We park up in Marcus’s usual spot, which goes by the name of ‘Young Tommy’s Stand’, “except he’s old and dead”. The nightly contingent of around 150 vans is watched over by a number of porters, who know who, and where, everyone is.

Once in the market, Marcus heads straight for the traders he needs for this morning’s fish. Coming every night, he explains, you build a relationship with people: “You look after them and they look after you”.

Clearly much has changed in the past hundred years or so – the bright fluorescent lights, background hum of refrigeration and polystyrene boxes full of fish, but one thing has remained the same. As Marcus says, “it’s a weather-dependent game”. If the boats can’t go out, then the price goes up and sometimes things simply aren’t available for love nor money.

Almost everyone is friendly. There are a few strange looks. A fair bit of banter from the tattooed and white-coated porters bustling around or traders standing over their books and fish.

There is a lot of water about, and all that ice makes the air cold, but there is no overwhelming fishy smell. It’s all too fresh for that. Haddock, lobster, sea bass, cod, tuna, mackerel, sardines, samphire…you name it.

Marcus walks around, checking the prices, which change daily. He tests all the fish he buys (it’s no lie that looking fresh behind the gills is important) and knows exactly what he wants. French mackerel, for example, does not fit the bill – it’s the firmer Scottish ones he’s after. 

A box of Scottish is produced and we take a look. Much firmer to the touch and with bright sparkling eyes – the deal is done.

4.45am A cup of tea in the café

Having ticked up his order book and found what he needs, Marcus suggests a cuppa in the café. The place quickly fills with porters and, if you fancy it, there’s smoked haddock and poached egg.

The walls are filled with old-fashioned photos of long-gone porters. The only place I know with the same atmosphere is the café back home at my local Cornish cattle market. Business to be discussed, people to greet – you’d never think they were down here every day.

5.10am Back to Old Tommy’s

We walk round paying a final few people, before heading back to Young Tommy’s Stand and the waiting van. Already a couple of boxes have piled up and over the next 20 minutes different porters pop by with our fish.

Marcus checks it over, loads up and then we’re on our way back towards The Fish Shop.

6.20am The Fish Shop, Kensington Place

We’re back early today, leaving plenty of time for filleting and preparing the fish, before Marcus heads off with his deliveries.

Between 8am and 9am, a delivery of fish will also arrive direct from Cornwall, caught fresh the day before by the Bean family, who run a day boat off the Lizard, near Helston. The Fish Shop opens for the day at nine, the chefs get cooking ready for lunch and Marcus heads off for a well-deserved lie-down.

Find out more:

Billingsgate Market.

Kensington Place Restaurant and The Fish Shop.

See our Billingsgate Market gallery below