C J Hook's Fishmongers

A high street is not complete without the businesses that meet a community’s everyday needs.

Rochester High Street is loved for its pubs, restaurants, cafés, antique shops and bookshops. Together they create the familiar rhythm of activity from morning to evening. But for a high street to be truly successful, it also needs a cross-section of businesses. It is the practical places that form the backbone, from butchers and hardware shops to greengrocers, pet shops and stores selling clothing and homeware.

Rochester is fortunate to retain many of these independent businesses, but for some time there has been a noticeable ingredient missing.

A great deal of thought has gone into bringing the former Our Little Cherub frontage back to life. Once home to handcrafted and hand-painted children’s wooden furniture, it has now been reimagined as a traditional fishmonger’s. It makes an immediate visual impact while feeling perfectly at home among the historic shopfronts of Rochester High Street.

The chequered tiles at the entrance remain, while the broad glass frontage, with its stained-glass detailing, is framed in racing green. Above the entrance, traditional black signage carries the name C.J. Hook’s Fishmongers in gold lettering. Beyond the window, the day’s catch is arranged across an ice-filled metal display.

Inside, black and white tiles line the walls and a long stainless-steel counter stretches along one side of the shop. Behind it, founder and fishmonger Ryan Caston weighs, cleans and prepares each order, taking care of the messier work for anyone who feels less confident preparing fish at home.

Customers are in capable hands. Ryan has worked in the fish trade for more than 12 years and in the wider food industry since the age of 16. He developed his knowledge through Michelin-rated restaurants across Kent, alongside time spent on the Côte d’Azur.

Chalkboards announce the day’s selection, which changes according to what is available at market. There may be whole crabs, oysters, whelks, skate, sardines and squid, alongside prepared platters of fruits de mer. The shop also supplies fish and seafood to local restaurants.

Prices may occasionally sit above those found in a supermarket, but fresh fish is shaped by market price, availability and season. Shopping here also offers something difficult to find in a supermarket aisle: the knowledge of a fishmonger. Ryan is happy to explain what has arrived, suggest how to cook it and prepare it according to the customer’s needs.

That enthusiasm continues online and in local secondary schools, where Ryan has shown pupils how to prepare a whole fish, from gutting and filleting to removing the bones. It is a practical skill quietly disappearing from many homes and one he is helping the next generation keep alive.

C.J. Hook’s feels like more than a welcome new opening. It restores a traditional trade to Rochester High Street and fills a gap that had been noticeable for some time.

Now all the street needs is a friendly neighbourhood butcher. Perhaps one day.

Opening Times
Please check the official website or social media for the latest opening days and times.

C J Hook's Fishmongers is just one of the many independent businesses that give Rochester High Street its character. Discover more in our guide to Rochester's independent shops.