06/05/2026
Afternoon everyone.
Apologies for the radio silence – I have half-written a few posts but then life seems to post me in a different direction. I’ve been getting obscenely sunburnt (ginger skin), floating about in the North Sea, renovating workshops, taking part in a few trail running races, building websites (bike shop one) and brewing beer. Anyway, those times are over, and you will now see me much more as I take up my position behind the fish range again from today (Wednesday 06th May).
I want to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about Fish, and I’m going to sound really arrogant. So, I hear and see multiple Fish and Chip shops are changing their fish types or just not stipulating what kind of fish you’re getting… unless you ask. There’s really good reason for this and that’s because the price of Cod and Haddock is now three times the price it was three years ago and it certainly wasn’t cheap back then. These other shops have rents to pay, often don’t do the frying themselves and have shops in areas where business rates are astronomical. Luckily, we don’t have a rent (its my spot), business rates are sensible and I work the fish range. It doesn’t end there either. Even in the world of Cod and Haddock there’s good and bad suppliers and my feeling is that Cod just hasn’t been at a good enough quality for a while and this is mostly because of dwindling stocks… not that haddock is much better from a stock point-of-view, but the taste is significantly superior. The haddock we use is the very best I could possibly source in the UK – there genuinely isn’t anything better out there. So… if you see Fish and Chip meals that don’t state the fish or you see or a fish you may not have heard of, well, the reasons are because some shops are really struggling and they’re trying to keep their heads above water. I often have thoughts about offering a different type of Fish in addition to Haddock, but it would take something significant for me to move to using a different fish entirely.
Just read that last paragraph back and realise that its actually related to the Fish and Chip industry and not one of my usual random topics – I must be a changed man.
Beer. I love to talk about beer! If you don’t know, SALT is also an all-grain micro-brewery where we brew our own beer in-house. I have some mega exciting recipes coming up including a New England IPA (NEIPA) I’ve named “ROOM 10” that I am really proper excited about. I love NEIPA’s and to brew one myself is just gonna be cool. NEIPA’s are dank, hazy, heavy, hoppy and fruity doses of deliciousness! I aim to brew next week and will hopefully see it on tap around mid-June. I’m really proud of our current beer on tap (Snoe-Gaarden). This is a Belgian style white beer which has bitter orange peel and crushed coriander in the recipe. I’ve brewed this one a couple of times before, but this one has come out beautifully with an amazing opaque white colour whilst being smooth and having a fruity finish. Other beers coming up will be the crowd pleasers – Joss IPA and Full Nopper Bitter. I’m even thinking of rigging up the hand-pull for the Nopper.
Anyway, I think you’re up-to-date. As I said above, it will be myself behind the range for the foreseeable and I’d love for you to come and say hi, grab a bite to eat or see what all this beer chatter is all about.
Ah, you know what I haven’t done for a while – tune of the week. Okay, so to celebrate me getting back behind the range combined with my description of my “ROOM 10” beer (dank, hazy, heavy, hoppy and fruity) lets have this. Apologies if you don’t like D&B and I don’t mean Dandelion & Burdock.
Born On Road & A Little Sound – Reload
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76wL_j_L6N0
Ben and the Team.
