Festival Of The Sea 2025 At The Barras
The Festival of the Sea makes its return to Glasgow in an exciting new partnership with the iconic Barras Market.
Taking place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th March 2025, Suffolk Street at The Barras will transform into a vibrant celebration of Clyde fishing culture from 10am to 4pm each day.
Visitors can look forward to a fantastic range of fresh and cooked seafood sourced directly from the Clyde. The event will feature engaging cooking demonstrations where top local chefs will showcase how to prepare delicious seafood dishes using the finest Scottish ingredients.
Families are well catered for with specially designed children's activities throughout the weekend. Browse unique maritime-themed crafts and products from local artisans, while enjoying live music that creates the perfect atmosphere for this celebration of Glasgow's connection to the sea.
From seafood enthusiasts to those simply looking for an enjoyable day out, The Festival of the Sea offers something for everyone in the historic setting of The Barras Market.
The Festival of the Sea is proudly supported by Seafood Scotland and the Regional Food Fund helping to showcase Scotland's outstanding seafood heritage and support local fishing communities
The Festival of the Sea makes its return to Glasgow in an exciting new partnership with the iconic Barras Market.
Taking place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th March 2025, Suffolk Street at The Barras will transform into a vibrant celebration of Clyde fishing culture from 10am to 4pm each day.
Visitors can look forward to a fantastic range of fresh and cooked seafood sourced directly from the Clyde. The event will feature engaging cooking demonstrations where top local chefs will showcase how to prepare delicious seafood dishes using the finest Scottish ingredients.
Families are well catered for with specially designed children's activities throughout the weekend. Browse unique maritime-themed crafts and products from local artisans, while enjoying live music that creates the perfect atmosphere for this celebration of Glasgow's connection to the sea.
From seafood enthusiasts to those simply looking for an enjoyable day out, The Festival of the Sea offers something for everyone in the historic setting of The Barras Market.
The Festival of the Sea is proudly supported by Seafood Scotland and the Regional Food Fund helping to showcase Scotland's outstanding seafood heritage and support local fishing communities
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00We're holding a festival of the sea. It's going to be a celebration of everything from the entire peninsula.
00:04There's going to be langoustines, oysters, squat lobsters, whatever you like.
00:08It's a great place for all the family. Loads of things for the family to get up to.
00:11We've got face painters, we've got mermaids, we've got things for the kids to do, activities,
00:18and also there's going to be demonstrations of seafood cooking and things like that.
00:22Loads of good chefs, loads of really tasty things for the family to get their teeth into.
00:26It's going to be Saturday, Sunday the 29th and 30th of March from 10 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon.
00:31Come and bring your family. It's going to be a great event.
00:34The reason we've chosen the Barras for the festival of the sea this year is we're trying to re-establish
00:39the link Glasgow used to have with the Clyde fisheries.
00:43We have some of the best seafood in the world and we export it all across Europe
00:47but we don't really consume it domestically.
00:50So our office is in the Brigitte which used to be the largest fish market in Glasgow
00:54and the Barras actually, if you think back right to the start of Maggie McIver,
00:58one of the first things she was selling here was fish.
01:01So we're trying to re-establish that link with the city centre and the Clyde.
01:06The point of this festival is absolutely to get people thinking about how they can use fresh produce
01:10but also to think about the people who catch that produce for them and what their connection to that is.
01:15So yeah, it's really joining the dots so that people can understand the providence of good food as well.
01:20So it's absolutely vital. Fishermen are a national resource and it's part of our culture.
01:25It's woven deep in our culture.
01:26It's to celebrate fishing and raise the profile.
01:28This shellfish is like all we catch on the west coast of Scotland
01:32and the people that live in Glasgow very seldom get a chance to make use of it, to buy it.
01:40So it's a good chance for us to showcase our catches.
01:43You know this is about getting it off the boat and getting it to you on the plate as quickly as possible
01:47and appreciating that freshness.
01:48Today we've brought some fresh langoustines, some king scallop meat, live lobsters and live brown crab.
01:55It was just caught yesterday from around the waters of Tarbert Macfayne, the island of Guia, the island of Jura, all inshore waters.
02:04The UK is known for its fish and chips which is great but there's so much more on offer
02:10and a lot of that obviously gets exported and people rely on those markets
02:14but there's definitely space to celebrate that seafood domestically as well
02:18and how it can be cooked, how it can be enjoyed and how fresh it is.
02:22I love seafood so I would eat it all day.
02:24We're selling Clyde Court langoustines, crabs, lobsters, scallops, all caught in the Clyde.
02:32The Scottish folk are not used to seeing this sort of stuff because most of it goes abroad
02:36and it's great to put it out and show to the public to see what they can get in their own country.
02:41Everything we source comes from the north of Scotland
02:43and we've got a breadth of about 80 suppliers that we buy different things from throughout the year.
02:47Fish, to my mind, is the original convenience food.
02:50It doesn't take long to prepare, it doesn't take long to cook.
02:53It's so important for Scotland to showcase its seafood.
02:56We don't use it enough, we especially don't use our shellfish enough
02:59so I think having an event like this where people can come in and have it accessibly
03:03to buy a lobster or to try nephrops on the plate fresh from the sea, it's a fantastic opportunity
03:09and it's just a really great cultural thing to get involved into.
03:12And you can speak to actual fishermen and ask about how to cook your shellfish.
03:16Scotland has a coast all the way round.
03:18It's an amazing asset that we have and fishing is in our blood.
03:21We have salt in the veins, so I think to bring it into the city centre
03:24and remind people that the Clyde is here and Glasgow's been built on fishing.
03:29Fishing is a hard job but a very fulfilling job.
03:33It's small family businesses that support small communities.
03:37The catch that we produce and sell supports many people in these communities,
03:43not just the fishermen themselves.
03:45For every one fisherman, there's probably five people ashore being supported by that one business.
03:52It's not all about industrial fishing, it's about small inshore artisanal fishermen.
03:58The Festival of the Sea 2025 will be happening on the 29th and 30th of March
04:03from 10am to 4pm and it will be at Suffolk Street on the Barrows.