An update from Richard Haward's Oysters

It’s been a little over a month now since we have expanded what we can offer at our stall at Borough Market, and we are pleased to announce that we are now able to serve alcohol with your oysters. We love pairing our wonderful molluscs with some crisp, cold white white, or oyster stout brewed on Mersea Island, so we’re thrilled our customers (you) can indulge yourselves again! At Borough Market, there are many good deals to be had: you can buy four medium rock oysters and a glass of bubbles or wine for just £10, or four medium rock oysters and a bottle of beer for only £9.00.

These combinations make a fantastic lunchtime or after work treat, or even a cheeky weekend brunch! As well as being able to offer alcohol to our customers again, we have extended our opening hours on a Friday until 7pm. This means you can make the most of the warm, summer evenings on Stony Street and help out an independent business.

It has been a tough period for all businesses and, like many others, we’re not out of the woods yet. A lot of our trade at Borough Market came from tourists visiting the capital. Our oysters are, of course, famous all over the world and in order to keep this reputation up, we need your help.

It is daunting heading out into the world again, there’s no doubt about it, but many businesses out there, like us, hope things will be safer so people can enjoy their little pleasures. As a business, we’re proud of the way the team have handled the pandemic and kept themselves, and you safe. For the shuckers at Borough Market it meant going from working flat out all day, everyday, to working on their own, serving maybe a few hundred oysters a day if they were lucky. Our loyal customer base has kept us going and striving for more.

As more and more restaurants open their doors, we’re working hard at all ends to fulfil orders, maintaining the oyster beds and looking after our stock levels. The nationwide lockdown meant that the seabeds thrived. There were fewer boats in the river, meaning the pollution levels dropped. In these conditions, oysters thrive as water quality has improved and they can get more nutrients in order for them to grow plump and taste even better than before.

Around this time of year, we’re always mindful of the native oyster season being just around the corner. Legally, we’re able to sell native oysters from the 14th August, but we prefer to wait until the 1st September and begin the season with a bang! 

Richard Haward’s Oysters will also be extending the number of days we will be offering delivery for our mail orders come September 1st. It has always been important for us to offer the best service, however, during the pandemic, our courier service were put under severe strain, and understandably, oyster deliveries were not top of their priority! Now things have eased into a ‘new normal’, we will be ready by September to offer you more services throughout the week, as well as more products.

That’s the end of our update, thank you once again for your continued support! Remember, if you visit us at Borough Market, take some photos and tag us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.