'If it swims or comes out of the sea, we can get it' says fish stallholder on Grantham Market

A father and son have run a market stall selling fresh fish in Grantham for 15 years.

Darren's Fish, a stall on on Grantham Market, is being showcased as part of a Journal series of features as the market recovers.

Grimsby-born Daniel Jelley, 34, runs the business with his dad, Darren Jelley, 55, and has been working in markets since he left school aged 14.

"If you’re from Grimsby, you’ve always got someone in the family that works with fish," said Daniel. "We’ve been doing Grantham Market for about 15 years.

“[Me and dad] do different places. We try and give each other a break. He’ll do two, I’ll do three and vice versa."

Daniel said he and his dad acquired the business from a family friend who he referred to as his uncle.

Daniel said: "It was his business originally. It got to the point where he was very old and then we took over. He’d been doing it for 40 years.

“We always use the phrase, if it swims or comes out of the sea, we can get it. Generally we can, but sometimes a lot of these different specialist items are becoming so expensive nowadays that there’s just no money in it.

"That is the killer at the minute with this industry, is the price of fish, it’s just ridiculous.

“Before Covid it was really good, then when Covid hit, sales basically doubled overnight because people were panic buying. It went on like that for months and it was ridiculous.

"We were having to double our orders, then it started to slow down a bit. Once all the restaurants opened, they can pay more for fish because they can charge more, where we can’t."

Like many who work on markets, Daniel said he enjoys the social side of the job more than anything.

“There’s no other job like this," he said. "It’s alright working in a shop and stuff but, because you’re in a different place every day and you’ve got your customers that you’ve known for years, and they’re not just customers, they’re friends."

Having worked on Grantham Market for 15 years, Daniel suggested a couple of ideas that could help the market fulfil its potential.

He said: "For a starter, they could do with free parking the surrounding areas until 12 o'clock, because normally everyone is panicking about traffic wardens putting tickets on their cars.

"I’ve racked my brain for months thinking about this and it’s about getting young people to come to the market. That’s what you need.

"The majority of people down there are over 50. If you don’t get the youngins in now, you’re going to have that deficit and it’s going to kill [the market]."

Daniel said that either he or his dad are "always there, rain or shine".