Some traders at London's historic Billingsgate Fish Market say trade in the run up to Christmas is not as strong as it once was.
Once one of its busiest times of the year, they say footfall has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels, with one describing it as "horrendous".Mr Elgin believes the cost of living crisis has also seen custom drop off. "You've not only got Covid, but you've also now got the cost of living crisis because people buy less. There's no restaurant trade at the beginning of the week now and they're just not getting the bookings," he told the"On top of that, you've just had the World Cup so everybody is cancelling their Saturday night dinners."
Retailers, restauranteurs and individual customers shop at the market, which now operates from a large trading hall in Canary Wharf, having previously been based in the City of London.Mike Elgin, who has worked at the market since the 70s, says the economic crisis at the World Cup have made matters worse for tradersHe said this December had been better than the last two but added: "It's still not back to pre-Covid levels. It's still a long way off of that. It's been horrendous.
"We only buy the fish we think we can sell easily, but sometimes it happens where we've ordered too much fish, we might have to throw it away on Friday or Saturday."Follow BBC London on