Hygiene, Legal & Allergens

Who we are

Registered name

Essex Fresh Catch

We are a family-run fishmonger based in Southend-on-Sea, selling our own boat’s catch alongside fish bought at day-boat markets.

Allergens

Fish and shellfish are both listed allergens, and everything we sell is one or the other.

What we can do: leave something out completely. On subscription boxes you can exclude whole categories — shellfish or oily fish — and they are then never put in your box. Separately you can name fish you simply do not like, and we swap those for something else that week.

What we cannot do: promise it has never been near one. We are a fishmonger, not a factory with separate production lines. Fish and shellfish are landed, stored, cut and packed side by side, on the same benches, with the same hands and knives. So while we will happily keep an ingredient out of your order, we cannot describe anything we sell as free from fish or shellfish, and we will not pretend otherwise.

If your allergy is a serious one, please talk to us before ordering rather than after. We would far rather tell you honestly that we are not the right shop for you than have you find out the hard way. Get in touch.

Your details and privacy

We only hold what you actually give us, and only to do the thing you asked for:

• Catch alerts: your mobile number, along with the fact and time you agreed to receive texts. You can stop them at any time, and we keep that consent record so we can show it was given.
• Messages and trade enquiries: your name, email, phone if you give it, and what you wrote, so we can reply.
• Your basket: kept in your own browser on your own device. It is not sent to us and we cannot see it.

We do not sell your details to anyone. Our website loads its fonts from Google, which means Google receives your IP address when a page loads, as it would on most websites.

You can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email us and we will sort it.

Cookies

We do not use tracking or advertising cookies, and there is no analytics running on this site. Your basket is stored in your browser’s own local storage so it survives a refresh; that never leaves your device. Staff signing in to manage the shop get a login cookie, which is not set for customers.

If something is not right

Fresh fish is perishable, so it is not something that can be sent back and resold, and the standard 14-day cooling-off period for online orders does not apply to it in the way it would to, say, a jumper.

That does not leave you stuck. If an order turns up in poor condition, is wrong, or does not turn up at all, tell us and we will put it right with a replacement or a refund. We would rather sort it than argue about it.

Subscriptions can be skipped, paused or cancelled by you at any time, with no notice period and no cancellation fee.