Fresh from the Plymouth boats daily, on the same Fore Street counter for seventy years. Oak-fired Salcombe Smokies cured on the premises since 1955. Three owner generations and one smoker out the back. Run today by Darren and Emma Carter on behalf of the Rex Down family of fish merchants in Plymouth.
The counter rotates daily with what the day-boats lift off at Sutton Harbour. We come back across the South Hams with the order, and what is down is what was alive last night. Cut, filleted, scaled, skinned, boned, whichever way you want it. Pop in, or phone the shop on 01548 852 006 to ask what is on today.
Monkfish, brill, John Dory, turbot, hake, lemon sole, dover sole, megrim, sand sole. Bream, pollack, cod, ling, haddock. Mackerel whole or filleted, red mullet, gurnard, weever, whiting, dabs. Whichever way you want it cut, the bench will do it while you wait.
The signature product, traditionally smoked over oak in the smoker out the back, on the same Fore Street premises the smokehouse opened on in 1955. Dry-salt cure, no chemical brine, no liquid smoke. Mackerel hot-smoked above 80 degrees, eat-as-is. Salmon cold-smoked below 30 degrees, slice and serve.
Native brown crab, whole or dressed at the bench. Lobster live from the tank or cooked to order with notice. King scallops in the shell. Hand-gathered mussels. Salad prawns. Raw king prawns for the pan. Order ahead for whole-fish dinner orders and for a Saturday lobster.
If you want a turbot, a whole salmon, a lobster, or a dressed crab for the weekend, phone in a day or two ahead so the right one comes off the boat.
Most "smoked mackerel" in UK retail is hot-smoked in industrial brining lines. The Salcombe Smokie process is small-batch, on-premises, oak-fired, chemical-free, hand-cured. The recipe traces back to the original 1955 smokehouse on the same site. Three owner generations have not changed the kit.
“Shopping here was a fabulous experience from start to finish. Not only did the fish look fresh, it tasted amazing.” Taste of the West judges · 2019 Champion Fish citation
The fishmongers at 54 Fore Street has been here since the 1950s, before Kingsbridge had a supermarket and back when the boats still sailed up the estuary to unload at the Quay. The smokehouse went in in 1955 and has not moved since.
Darren and Emma Carter took the shop on in 2009. Darren was a Plymouth Fish Quay filleter from age sixteen. Emma had skippered an under-ten-metre trawler before coming ashore. The Carter years carried the Champion Fish title at the Taste of the West awards in 2019 and a Gold every year since.
From 2024 the shop joined the Rex Down family of fish merchants, founded 1971 on the Plymouth Barbican by Rex Down and now run by his son Rikki. Darren and Emma Carter stay on at the Kingsbridge counter. The smoker, the oak, the dry cure, the Mon-to-Sat hours, the half-day Thursday, all unchanged.
Fore Street is the main shopping spine of Kingsbridge. The shop sits on the upper end, a few doors down from Harbour Bookshop and across the way from the Shambles colonnade. The Quay at the head of the estuary is one block south. Salcombe is six miles further down the water.
Indicative bus stop: Kingsbridge Bus Station (Quay) is a four-minute walk. Pay-and-display parking at the Quay. The shop has its own front door on Fore Street, no detour.
Closed Bank Holidays. Counter cut-off is fifteen minutes before close so the bench can clean down.
Tell us what you want, when you want it, and roughly how many at the table. Whole turbot, a side of salmon, a dressed crab for a Saturday lunch, a tray of Smokies for the post-walk picnic. Phone the shop, drop in, or use the form. The bench will hold it cold and ready for collection.
For wholesale and restaurant trade, the Rex Down team in Plymouth handles standing orders and event-volume on six-days-a-week delivery across Devon and Cornwall.
If your question is not here, phone the shop on 01548 852 006 or pop in during opening hours.
The counter rotates daily with whatever the Plymouth boats landed at six this morning. We pull the order off the Rex Down trawler agents at the Sutton Harbour Quay, drive it across, and have it on Kingsbridge ice by 09:00. Pop in or phone the shop on 01548 852 006 to ask what is down today. We will not pretend to have something we did not get.
On-site. The smoker is out the back at 54 Fore Street. Oak-fired, dry-cured, no liquid smoke and no chemical brine. The smokehouse has been on this premises since 1955. Mackerel is hot-smoked, salmon is cold-smoked, both at the same shop on the same kit.
Yes. For a whole turbot, a side of salmon, a dressed crab platter or a lobster, phone in a day or two ahead so we can hold what comes off the right boat. Cut, filleted, scaled, skinned, boned, whichever way you want it served. The bench will do it while you wait if you would rather see it done.
Yes, the Smokies and home-smoked salmon both travel well chilled and we have shipped them around the country for several years now. Phone the shop or email contact@catchofthedaykingsbridge.co.uk to set up an order. Trade and restaurant orders are routed through the Rex Down wholesale operation in Plymouth on a six-days-a-week delivery.