Q: What's the true test of any Londoner (native or immigrant)? A: Can they swear like a Billingsgate fishmonger.
"If only one could know the human reality of the woman selling fish and go beyond just labelling her a fishwife and the known fact that she exists and sells fish." (Fernando Pessoa)
Before we leave you to interrogate the map below, it's worth remembering (in defence of our oft-maligned fishwives) that a salty tongue is often a trustworthy one. Take, for instance, the perspicacious advice to be found in Mr Duncan MacDonald's New Family Cookery or Town and Country Housekeepers’ Guide (published in 1812). This publication notes, inter alia, that: "As it is always advisable to go the best established and most respectable shops, it may be serviceable to housekeepers to observe that the fishmongers at Billingsgate, from the general good quality of their fish, from the fairness of their dealings, and from the obligingness of their manners, are particularly deserving of custom".
As for the possibility that Mr MacDonald's tongue may have been grazing his cheek as he wrote these lines, it is a matter on which we are reluctant to speculate.
You can use the map above to examine the geographical distribution of London's fishmongers. Use the filter to choose a borough and the map will automatically zoom into that part of town. Then, hover your cursor over any of the dots and a lightbox will appear, displaying the name of the fishmonger, its street location and its postcode.