Fish firm backing campaign

Family-run business Granite City Fish has been offering a wide range of quality seafood in the north-east for almost 60 years.

And if it were not for Edward Fletcher’s mother Gina and her friend Cathy Addams, the company would never have taken off and become what it is today.

Ed, the managing director at Granite City Fish on Poynernook Road, has worked in the city’s fish industry for 38 years.

The 60-year-old, who was born and bred in Garthdee, takes great pride in the processes from buying the fish to serving.

“My mother Gina and her friend Cathy were the first women to start a fish processing business in a very male-oriented industry in 1962,” Ed said.

“At the time, the name of the business was Fletcher & Addams and later changed to Fletcher & Son. Following my mother’s retirement, this later changed to the now well-recognised and respected brand name of Granite City Fish – chosen by my grandfather Arthur Laing.”

Ed had always planned to move to Australia. But after getting paid off in the ’80s due to the first oil slump, he decided to help his mother out.

And what was initially supposed to be “a couple of months” has turned into almost four decades. Ed said: “As a time served engineer and mechanic, I hadn’t done anything like this job before.

“But with my mother coaching me and passing on her knowledge and experience, I became accepted and was taken seriously by other merchants in the industry, albeit around five years after my first introduction.

“I now have a team of six full-time and three part-time staff members.”

“At the beginning of lockdown in March 2020, I knew we had to diversify to prevent placing my team on furlough and temporarily shutting the shutters.

“So, I decided to set up a home delivery service – something I hadn’t considered during my 38 years running the business.”

Ed is encouraging people to support local businesses in these unprecedented times and has backed the North-East Now campaign.

The website, driven by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce and supported by creative agency Hampton and Aberdeen Journals, is encouraging people to do what they can to support the local economies in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

“I decided to reach out and share my story with North-East Now as there is a lot of negativity in society at the moment,” Ed added.

To find out more about North-East Now, visit northeastnow.scot

To share your positive business story, email stories@northeastnow.scot

BIG CATCH: Edward Fletcher of Granite City Fish.