A FISHERMAN plans to open a new café and shop in Gwynedd to help “showcase” Welsh seafood.
Lobsterman Brett Garner is a strong advocate for Welsh seafood – which he says is some of the best – and hopes his new venture will help encourage more people to eat it.
In his boat ‘Top Cat’, he fishes off Porth Neigwl, (Hell’s Mouth) for lobster, mackerel, crab, grey mullet and other delights.
With his chef wife, Nia, he has put in a planning application for the change of use of an outbuilding at his home to set up a small scale café and seafood shop.
It is hoped that Nia, a former chef at the Penbryn Bach restaurant at Aberdaron who has appeared in seafood festivals, will develop a menu which Brett said would include tasty treats such as seafood platters, lobster thermidor, creamy sauce dishes, spider crab legs to crack and BBQ lobster.
Brett told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was his mission to get people to eat more Welsh seafood.
He said: “It is a problem that we Brits don’t eat as much seafood, and what we have here is some of the best but you can hardly sell it.
“They do eat it when the sun is shining, but when the grey clouds of winter come they all go back to eating red meat.
“I sell from my door and to a couple of local restaurants but I want to help promote it.
“People come to Wales, surrounded by the sea shore, and you expect to be able to get fresh seafood, but there is not that many places where you can get it.
“Often the stuff in supermarkets is from other places or been there for a few days, it’s fine but there is nothing [that] tastes better than a fresh mackerel straight from the sea, it tastes completely different.
“What we want to promote is the Welsh seafood, it has just got to be local.
“There has been tests done, and the Welsh seafood was found to be some of the best in Britain and we go to great efforts to catch it in a sustainable way.”
If approved by Gwynedd Council planners, the café will be located at Tyn Y Mynydd Isaf, Rhiw, near Pwllheli, on the road from Y Groesffordd northwards to Pwll Melyn.
The plan’s design and access statement states: “The café would be used to showcase the local seafood harvested by Mr Garner, as part of his fishing business selling products such as fish and shellfish directly to customers.
“The proposal is therefore a subservient element to the existing fishing business.
“It is proposed that the non-licensed café is open from 12-6pm on set weekdays with evening meals provided by appointment only.
“Evening meals would be served by appointment to private smaller groups, from 6-10pm.”
It also notes that the café would be run by Mr and Mrs Garner and family, with the “potential” to create additional part-time employment.
It was “envisaged”, the plans state, that the café would be open from Thursday through to the following Monday during holiday periods, and would “likely close during the quieter winter months”.
It added that the size of the building and outside area “dictates” the size of the café, which would be able to accommodate up to a maximum of 20 people.
“The proposal would make use of an existing building and outside area to promote a sustainable and local fishing business, adding value to product and minimising food miles,” the plans state.
The plans add: “It will make use of part of a suitable existing building and outside space, is accessible from the existing highway network and it will not impact on the surrounding environment or neighbours.”
Brett said the building had seen a variety of uses over the past 40 years, from being a pig sty, to a gun room, from when he was a gamekeeper at the Nanhoron Estate.
