SAYING goodbye to getting up at the crack of dawn is Haslemere’s popular fishmonger.

John Edwards, 67, who has set his alarm for 3.30am to be at work an hour later to take in his fish supplies at The Good Fish Shop in West Street, called it a day after running the business for the past seven years.

No stranger to selling fish and meat to the folk of Haslemere and beyond, John from Pitfold Avenue has hung up his apron after working in the butchery and fishery business for most of his life.

Working first for Baxters Butchers in the High Street until it closed down, John went on to work for Michael Humphreys in Midhurst and Rowledge, near Farnham, before returning to the town to work at the former La Poissonnière in the 1990s as a fishmonger. He opened The Good Fish Shop in 2009.

But it all began many years before that, when John first helped his father making the sausages for his shops in Tooting, in London, and Weybridge, in Surrey, at the tender age of eight. He went on to learn his trade at London’s Smithfield College at 16 and has been a butcher and fishmonger ever since.

John and his wife, Linda, and their family first moved to Haslemere in 1974 before moving to Brighton and later returning to the town in the early 1980s.

Now with every variety of fish available all-year round, John said that tastes had changed over the years. He told The Herald “We now sell a lot of tuna, raw prawns, monkfish, skate and lots of salmon,”

That is a bit of a change from when people used to buy monkfish to feed their cat, because it was “very cheap.”

“I always wanted to be a butcher,” said John who leaves his business with mixed feelings. “I’m sad to go and I will miss the people.”

With three grown-up children, a daughter and two sons and four grandchildren, John is set to see a bit more of them and also may according to Linda, take to the open road in a new camper van.

“It will be our third one but up until now have not been able to go that far because of John’s work,” she said.

And it will mean an end to getting into work at 4.30am to take the fish in, although John admits that he is well used to it.

She said: “I even make a cup of tea at 4.30am on a Sunday morning.”

John’s retirement won’t mean an end to being able to buy fresh fish and meat from the shop in West Street.

He has sold the business to Oliver Seabright who will be opening up next month, using meat sourced from the local area, selling traditional breeds, with “full traceability, brought directly from farmers.”

Oliver will also be selling sustainably-sourced fish on Fridays and Saturdays.