Fish shop celebrates 50 years of business

Gaynor and Steve Wright under a 50th birthday banner in the opening of the shop. Gaynor is dressed in denim and Steve has a light grey jacket on and dark jeans. There is an A board with Seafoods 50th birthday and a selection of pictures of it. The fish counter with fish on ice is behind the couple.

Gaynor Wright's parent, Jean and Bill Daffin, opened the shop on 16 September 1975

Rhiannon YhnellSomerset and Alexandra BassinghamWest of England

A fishmongers has been celebrating five decades of business after its original owners "suddenly decided" to start the business on a side street in 1975.

Jean and Bill Daffin ran Seafoods, in Burnham-on-Sea, until 2004 until their daughter Gaynor Wright and her husband Steve took over before retiring earlier this year, handing over the reins to former apprentice Ryan Mount.

Ms Wright said they ordered the best fish, with supplies coming from Cornwall and Scotland, "so we order one day and it comes the next day".

As one of the longest-running businesses in the town, knowing Mr Mount would carry the business on means everything has worked out "just right", Mr Wright added.

The front of the Sea Foods shop in the 1970s. It is a faded and reduced colour image with the reflection of the photographer on the window. You can see a picture of fish in the window and a faded view of the counter inside. Over the door to the right of the picture, fresh fish is written in italic.Handout

The shop first opened in the 1970s

Being a family business means a lot to locals, Ms Wright said, adding: "I think people want better quality things and not pre-packed."

On reaching the 50-year milestone, Mr Wright said: "I didn't think it would be 50 years. The years have just flown by and I'm just glad it's going to carry on."

He said as a "one off" in the town, it had worked out "just right" that Mr Mount was keen to keep the business going.

Seafoods fishmonger & current owners Ryan Mount and fiancée Debbie Sinyard standing in front of the price menu board at the back of the shop. There is also a 50th birthday flyer on the wall behind them a small part of the counter to the right. Both are wearing a dark top underneath a black apron with Seafoods written in small type in white. Ryan is wearing a black cap backwards and has tattoos visible on his right arm below the t shirt sleeve. Debbie is wearing a black seafoods cap in the normal fashion.

Former apprentice Ryan Mount took over Seafoods in February

Mr Mount, who started helping at the shop when he was 15, said he is is "proud" to be able to keep the family business going.

His fiancé Debbie Sinyard, who is a co-tenant manager, said when Mr Wright spoke about retiring, "I said 'why don't we see if we can do it?'."

"So we decided to do it together because we didn't want to see this place close," she added.

She said in her six months at the shop, the hardest bit has been navigating how much fish to have, but so far there have been no problems.

"Ryan does all the prep work. I haven't got to filleting yet - I can gut, clean and scale - but otherwise it's all Ryan's hard work," she added.

A fish counter with varying fish types visible with little black signs saying what they are. There are lemon sole, sardines, plaice, gilt head bream, cuttle fish, haddock, scallops, tuna, trout and skate. The fish are laid out on ice and they are on display in a big unit with vintage 1975 on the side.

Once the fish is ordered it arrives fresh the next day form Cornwall or Scotland

Get in touch

Tell us which stories we should cover in Somerset

Contact form

Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Related topics

More on this story