The Changing fortunes of the Whitstable Oyster

Took a family New Year's day walk along a cold, blustery seafront at Whitstable, on the North Kent coast. Lots of other people had the same idea, as it was a nice day and as there's a hard path, nobody was going to get muddy shoes for once. The Christmas bikes, scooters, and cameras were out in force, and there was the spectacle of a Whitstable Lifeboat launch - in training fortunately. A few hardy souls went in for a swim - bonkers!
The fish market in the harbour was doing brisk business. This coastline is famous for its oysterbeds, and the harvesting of Whitstable oysters goes back almost two thousand years, to when the Romans discovered them. Regarding them as a delicacy, they were shipped back live to Rome. More recently in the 1850's, the Whitstable Oyster Company, one of the oldest companies in Kent, was sending as many as 80 million oysters a year to Billingsgate fish market. By then the plentiful oyster had become the food of the poor. I saw them for sale today on the beach for £2 - £3 each! How times change.

By the mid 19th Century, a large fleet of Whitstable smacks was moored off the beach to dredge the oyster beds and the company flourished, but from the turn of the 20th century a number of factors conspired against the industry - cold winters, the two World Wars, the great flood of 1953 and, not least, the introduction of the prawn cocktail!

Oysters are still harvested and sold at the market, in the restaurants and off the beach from huts, and the shells are recycled - they form a good substrate for the new oyster beds out in the bay.

Happy New Year to you all!