Whitstable Natives - The Story of the Whitstable Oyster

by Michael Cable. Photography by Brian Aris

Whitstable Natives tells the whole story of the rise, the fall and the return of the Native oyster from 50 BC to the present day, as seen through the eyes of some of Whitstable’s other natives, including oystermen, past and present.

Since time immemorial Whitstable has been famed for its oysters. Even the Romans developed a taste for the prized Native ‘Rutupians’ that came from around the Whitstable area of the Kent coast, acknowledging them as the best to be found anywhere in the Empire. They were even shipped back to Rome on a regular basis.

Their popularity hit a peak in the middle of the 19th century but by the 1970's the local industry was barely ticking over and there was a real danger that the true Whitstable Native oyster would disappear altogether. At the same time, Whitstable itself went into decline. It was at this point that Barrie Green and John Knight took over the near-defunct Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company and launched the revival that has not only saved the Whitstable Native oyster from the threat of extinction and enabled old traditions to be kept alive, but have helped to give the whole town a new lease of life, making it one of the most fashionable places in the South East in which to live or visit.

Available from The Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, Hotel Continental, 29 Beach Walk, Whitstable, Kent. CT5 2BP.
T: 01227 280280. www.hotelcontinental.co.uk

Price £20 plus £5.50 p&p.

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