Billingsgate Market Guide: Buying Sushi-Grade Fish

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Updated: 10th April 2026

Where is the biggest fish market in the UK? With a market complex spanning 13 acres, Billingsgate Market in London is the UK’s largest indoor fish market with the largest selection of fish. The market dates back to the 16th century and originally operated near Lower Thames Street and London Bridge after being officially established by an act of parliament, and even survived disruptions like the great fire. It moved from the heart of the City to its current location in Canary Wharf back in 1982, and is now managed by the City of London Corporation.

Billingsgate fish market is where buyers from the best restaurants and fishmongers in London and the United Kingdom source their fish and seafood. Although it is a professional fish market, it’s also open to the general public. The main trading floor boasts 98 stalls and 30 shops where you can find all kinds of fish and shellfish. If you want to research before you go and learn more on the fish trade, take a look at the official City of London website. On top of more background information, you can find a complete merchant list and the general market floorplan.

Billingsgate Market Opening Times

The market is open every day from Tuesday to Saturday. It starts at 4am and goes on until 8:30 in the morning. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays, bank holidays, and during the Xmas and New Year period. Good Friday is the exception to the bank holiday rule, however we advise checking the official open days before any visit.

When is the best time to visit?

As the market opens at 4am, most serious buyers are in and out before half five if not before. However, remember you’ll have to queue if you arrive before 5am. We would suggest arriving any time after that and possibly the optimal time is around 5:30am. If you don’t want to miss on the best catch, obviously go a little earlier. Stalls start shutting up at 6:30 which is when prices start going down and bargain hunters arrive. You can easily get deals for prices you don’t often see. For examples 4 rainbow trout for £10, a kilo of mussels for £3, or 6 sea bass for £10.

How to get to Billingsgate Market?

Today, the market’s current site is located in the heart of london near the Isle of Dogs. If you’re traveling via public transport and arriving after 6am, it is easily accessible and a 10 minute walk from Blackwall DLR station and Canary Wharf. Its proximity to Tower Bridge makes it a central hub, though plans are underway to eventually move it toward the Royal Docks / Albert Island area.

If you want to arrive earlier than 6am to get the freshest fish, it is tricky getting there by public transportation. You’ll either need to take a night bus or a night tube if one is near you. For those of you living close to the Central Line and wanting to arrive by 5:30am, we would advise going to Mile End station. From there, you can catch the D6 bus for 10 minutes and walk 7 minutes from Aspen Way. Alternatively, you can take an Uber from Mile End straight to Billingsgate Market. This only cost us £8 and we were outside the market entrance and the iconic Traffic Light Tree in 7 minutes.

Parking details

There is a pay and display car park where you pay £2 for a 2 hours stay. On the Saturday we went in early January there were plenty of spaces still available in the car park. Possibly this will be different later in the year. To be safe, we would recommend arriving before the bargain hunter crowd gets to the market.

What to Expect on the Market Floor

What to Wear & Safety tips

First of all, you’ll find the market floor busy, and stepping into the large trading hall requires an early start. The market is a bustling food market where dutch fishermen historically traded, and today features a vast array of fish products and all sorts of fish perfect for retail or wholesale, with stalls all close together lined-up in four rows. This makes it quite easy to move around and locate stalls. You’ll see the floor is wet so it’s better to go in shoes or boots with non-slip soles.

Definitely don’t wear anything that you wouldn’t want getting dirty. This is a market with a lot going on. You’ll often hear porters shout out “mind your feet” or “legs” as they pull their trolleys and pallets right past you.

What are the market traders like?

Being at Billingsgate market does give you a glimpse into East End trading life but it’s not as rough as some writers may have you believe. The traders we met and spoke to were polite and friendly to all customers. In addition, we don’t believe anyone is out to target unsuspecting shoppers either. If prices are getting lower past six thirty, it obviously means the traders want to sell their stock before closing.

Where can you buy Sashimi-Grade Fish?

You will need to take particular care when you buy sashimi grade fish. It goes without saying that not buying the correct fish could make you seriously ill. So always take your time and ask the trader if they sell sushi or sashimi grade fish. Be sure to double check if you are not sure. You can even explicitly ask if the fish can be eaten raw as sashimi or used for sushi.

We would recommend that you go early to Billingsgate Market so that you can get the best fish. Also we would advise paying extra for higher quality. You may see cheaper options but surely it’s better to be play it safe. In addition, farmed salmon is the way to go if you are trying to avoid any risks from parasites.

Here is a photo of a box of farmed sashimi-grade salmon from Norway. Each fillet weighed 1.75 kgs and cost £25 – £26. In case it looks small to you, believe us when we say they are huge. We bought one of the fillets under these ones you see on top. While these fillets were not descaled, this took less than 2 minutes work when we got home.

While market tenants can change frequently, we originally sourced our salmon from Simmos in Stall D8 & D9. Currently it appears on Google that the stall is closed, so if it is open when you visit, we highly recommend asking the trader directly if they are still selling sashimi grade fish.

Just to give you an idea of what it looked like, here is the fillet at home on the largest cutting board we have in the kitchen. Moments after taking this photo we sliced up the salmon and had the most delicious sashimi breakfast.

Do you need to bring cash?

Yes, we would recommend to take cash with you before going to Billingsgate Market. The closest ATM is a ten-minute walk away in Canary Wharf. Quite a few of the traders now have card readers to make things more convenient compaed to a few years ago, but you will have some traders who only accept cash, and just in case, we’d suggest to take cash anyway, since sometimes there can be issues with card readers on the day.

Also keep in mind that Billingsgate is a wholesale market. This means that you won’t be able to buy small quantities. You’ll be buying by the kilo, by boxes, or in our case with the sashimi-grade salmon, you have to buy the whole fillet. Below you can see that there is sliced salmon but it’s sold per kilogram.

Billingsgate Market Relocation Update (2027 – 2028)

Yes the market will be moving from its current site near the Isle of Dogs and London City Airport to a state-of-the-art facility in the Royal docks / Albert Island area around 2027–2028. This massive relocation will co-locate the historic fish market with the New Smithfield meat market in East London. For visitors, this means the current large trading hall and its specialised tonne freezer store, which keeps tonnes of fish perfectly chilled, will transition to a brand-new wholesale hub. While the market has evolved massively since its days near Billingsgate wharf when it was designed by a prominent city architect, this upcoming move ensures London’s trading traditions continue to thrive. 

Alternative Sushi-grade Fish Shops in London

Billingsgate Market offers the freshest fish which is perfect for sashimi or sushi making. It is an option for those who are early morning risers and who don’t mind the market vibe. If you are not willing to lose out on sleep, please check out our list of alternative Japanese supermarkets and shops selling sashimi grade fish in the London area and across the UK.

We hope that this information about Billingsgate Market has been helpful.

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Where to buy Japanese Sashimi Knives

To slice sashimi, you’ll need a Yanagiba “willow blade”, which is a long and thin knife used to slice raw fish and other seafood. There are quite a few Japanese sashimi knives you can purchase online but not all are actually made in Japan.

If you are looking for a Japanese sashimi knife that has both good reviews in Japan and is respected by Japanese chefs in the UK, we would recommend Kai’s 18 cm Japanese sashimi knife from their Magoroku Ginju collection. The blade is stainless steel so it’s easy-to-clean and rust resistant. Also the knife handle is made from high grade water-resistant wood. To give a quick introduction to Kai, the company was founded in 1908 in Seki City, which is an area of Japan well-known for blade-making and they create kitchen knives according to the traditions of the legendary samurai of old Japan.

Kai’s Magoroku Ginju Sashimi knife is available on Amazon Japan where they have a 4.1 rating out of 935 ratings. While Amazon don’t have shipping to the UK right now, you can still get this knife at ZakZakka.com which is a unique online store in the UK for those who love authentic Japanese products.

We found that you can buy the Kai Magoroku Ginju Sashimi knife for £36.69, and you can get a 10% discount if you subscribe to their email newsletters. Then you can get it delivered for £7 with 48 hour delivery that comes with tracking. We bought one last month and this is how it looks after unboxing. Apart from being aesthetically pleasing, the knife is light and very sharp. In fact, cutting through sashimi with this knive requires little effort and you can create beautiful sashimi slices.

One more option worth considering is the Japanese Knife Company which has several stores in London and been running for over 20 years. Their JKC Sushi Yanagiba is also single bevel, stainless steel and made in Niigata prefecture in Japan. Since it costs £69 it will qualify for free UK shipping and in case you’ve not previously come across JKC they have some incredible scores on TrustPilot and you can always head into one of their stores to take a closer look at their products in person.

At Best Japanese, we independently select and write about Japanese food and culture we love and think you’ll like too.