Parker: North Sea Fish & Farms keeps fish sales at Crossroads Market

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North Sea Fish & Farms, which has served the greater Calgary community for more than 50 years, has taken over the space of a much older beloved operation — Billingsgate Seafood — that has been a highly respected purveyor of fish here since 1907.

The transition follows the death of Bryan Fallwell, the third generation of the family-owned Billingsgate business who was a pillar of Calgary’s seafood community.

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“My father was dedicated to bring Calgary the freshest and finest seafood,” says his daughter, Melanie. “This new evolution with North Sea Fish & Farms will ensure the highest quality products continue to be available at Crossroads Market.”

Many will remember walking down 8th Avenue for a fish and chips lunch at Billingsgate when it was housed in the area where Olympic Plaza was built. For well over 50 years, Fallwell was a favourite vendor, serving his famous fish and chips in the Big Four Building during the Stampede.

After many years in East Village, the shop relocated to Stadium Shopping Centre in 2006, where Billingsgate enjoyed many robust years as a go-to destination for fish lovers, until a fire in the fall of 2015 destroyed a number of retail operations in the centre, including Billingsgate.

A lot of hard work enabled Fallwell to reopen as a kiosk in Community Natural Foods on 10th Avenue S.W., but he eventually settled on a stall at Crossroads Market.

Now, with the acquisition of Billingsgate, North Sea becomes part of the Crossroads community of some 150 vendors at the market on 24th Street S.E., close to where Blackfoot Trail and Ogden Road intersect.

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North Sea, a family-owned seafood and fish wholesaler, has been in business since 1971. It is part of the Teja Group that was founded almost 40 years ago by Joe Klassen, still an entrepreneurial driver but who relies on Tom Grande as president.

The company grew from its launch of Joey’s Restaurants — opened by Klassen and his wife Theresa in Calgary in 1985 — to a huge business, including 40 Joey’s franchise operations, making it the largest seafood restaurant chain in the country. It also has 25 strEATS fast/casual food locations across Canada.

Fish has always been a passion, so Billingsgate is a great addition to Teja that includes Cedar Bay Grilling Company, famous for its cedar plank Atlantic salmon shipped from its plant in Halifax, N.S., throughout Canada and the U.S.

Anita Day is general manager of North Sea Fish & Farms that has primarily supplied a wide range of fresh and frozen seafoods and meat products to food services and a few retail customers from its 9th Street S.E. office and warehouse location. Crossroads Market opens an exciting new venue.

“We are deeply honoured to be part of the Crossroads Market,” says Day. “We look forward to serving the Crossroads community with the same quality seafood and customer service that our North Sea customers have come to expect.”

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Melanie Fallwell has joined the North Sea team, and the Billingsgate and Fallwell family’s legacy will continue through her work and presence in the market.

It will continue to serve a renowned selection of fresh fish, shellfish, lobster, scallops, shrimp and more, and is introducing a classic East Coast handmade lobster roll and weekly seafood chowder, created by Teja chef Chris Chabot.

Notes:

• Congratulations to Village Brewery on its victory at the prestigious 2024 World Beer Awards, with two World’s Best titles. The global celebration of excellence in brewing recognized Village Blacksmith, a well-balanced black-malt ale named as best in the Brown Ale category. Village Wit, a white wheat ale, took top honour in the American Wheat Beer category. Nice to see Village, the microbrewery started in 2011 with friends sharing beers and dreams for a community that would support artists and craftspeople, continuing to make its mark on the Alberta beer scene while proudly dedicated to the community, connection and innovation.

• Where soccer is football and chips are crisps is promised by the Elephant & Castle that opens this week at 1503 4th Street S.W., formerly home to the Rose & Crown. Football crazy, English Premier League, MLS and La Liga can be enjoyed with bangers and mash, and Sunday roast.

David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622.

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