Remembering Arthur Swan

Frank Mortlock who was born in the street, remembers that Mr Swan made considerable improvements to the shop, installing the new entrance set diagonally between Victoria Street and Church Street, He also built a smoke house in his back yard. The shop was kept meticulously clean and the fish displayed attractively on ice on a sloping slab. "Swanny" as he was affectionately called, kept a horse and cart on Tibby's Green with which he would collect supplies of ice and deliver fish to outlying villages.

Simon Loftus writes: "Arthur and his wife Annie were some of my favourite Southwold characters. I think the impeccable cleanliness of the shop may have stemmed from his early (and rather unlikely) career as cook on a millionaire's yacht - it had that sense of nautical neatness. But his language could be cheerfully foul and he had a mischievous sense of humour. 'This one's not the same as you came in with last week', he once cheekily exclaimed at the sight of my latest girlfriend. But he taught me a lot about fish and I became addicted to his unique, cold-smoked mackerel - marinated in some secret mixture before smoking, for which he promised to let me have the recipe, but never did. And I have never found anyone else selling smelt - with their delicious scent of fresh cucumber.

Arthur with his cloth cap. Annie with her striped socks - I miss them both."

Colin Marr writes: "I remember Mr Swan's fish shop and smoke-house from several trips to Southwold in the 1970s. My wife and family used to stay at Mrs Richardson's guest house in Dunwich Road and I delighted in exploring this wonderful town and finding out more about its history. Swan's was an important place to visit, not so much for his fresh fish, but for his smoked fish and in particular for his cold-smoked mackerel (not to be confused with the hot-smoked variety). I was intrigued by this because he seemed to have found a way to produce something as good as, if not better than smoked salmon at a fraction of the price! I talked with him about this and he explained his process, which included washing in brine and smoking over oak chips and I was pleased to be shown the smoke house at the back of the shop. I was aware that Mr Swan was in poor health and I think he lamented that the smoke house and business would go with his death, with nobody to take-over the business.

In my visit this weekend I was pleased to see the smoke house is still recognisable in the back garden of the house on the corner of Church Street and Victoria Road, but alas the atmosphere and magic of earlier times has gone.

Still looking for cold-smoked mackerel and some of the more congenial things about Southwold as it was forty years ago!"