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London’s oldest working smokehouse

Our Crouch End smokehouse, located behind our N8 shop is over 125 years old. It was built in 1880 as part of the fish shop. Smoking fish in Victorian times was an aid to food preservation, today with fridges and freezers in every home it is for the rich traditional flavours.

Traditional Smoked Fish

In our Crouch End smokehouse we use the traditional method of smoking which requires the fish being suspended in smokehouses over slow burning or smoldering wood shavings. The fish are left hanging for many hours to be naturally infused with smoke. The fish is high above the burning wood so that it is kept cool during the smoking process. We use traditional skills and recipes that have been handed down through the family for at least six generations.

Any fish can be smoked, but it is the species high in oil such as Salmon, Mackerel, Herring, Eel or Trout that produce the best result. This is because they absorb smoke more readily and being more oily they do not dry out during the smoking process.

 

salmon in the crouch end smokehouse
inside crouch end smokehouse

Traditional Crouch End Smokehouse

We smoke and sell a range of traditional smoked fish products. What you see on our counter are truly local food products Typically you will find Smoked Haddock, Smoked Mackerel and Kippers. You will also find our own Smoked Salmon. You can see a complete list of our smoked fish products here >>

The processes use nothing but natural wood usually oak shavings for the best rich flavours.  There are no chemicals or dyes added. You can see in the final result that our smoked Haddock is a pale yellow and our Kippers have a  beautiful silvery gold colour, both have a rich smoky aroma.

Kippers from our Crouch End smokehouse

Crouch End Smoke House – In the news!

Even though fishmongers have been smoking fish as part of our Crouch End shop for decades in 2013 there was a a complaint from a neighbour who disliked the smoke and the local council temporarily closed it.

The incident attracted a lot of comment and support locally and in the national press. Even Prince Charles lent his support to keep the smoke house open.

Click the video image on the right to view the BBC news report

crouch end smokehouse bbc news clip

Latest Smoked Fish recipes from our blog