Joe Sykes started trading wet fish from the original Smithfield Market in 1862, in the heart of Manchester City Centre, with deliveries being made by horse and cart well into the 20th Century.

At its peak at the turn of the century, this site was probably the largest market complex in Britain, occupying seven acres. In 1987 the site was designated a "Conservation Area" and has since been sympathetically regenerated as part of a £7.5m residental and leisure development.

Click on the Manchester Council website for more information.

The company relocated in 1974 to a large site 1.5 miles outside the city centre in order to take advantage of the growth in frozen seafood and has seen several expansions since, the most recent of which was the opening of a state-of-the art office and coldstore building in 2005.