Colchester Native Oyster Fishery

Two thousand years, one bed

The Colne and Blackwater estuaries in Essex are where the British oyster industry began, and where the native oyster (Ostrea edulis) has been fished continuously since 43 AD. Roman-era oyster middens have been excavated across the estuary, some containing tens of thousands of discarded shells from the first and second centuries. The oysters were considered so good the Romans shipped them back to Italy packed in ice from the Alps — the earliest documented cold-chain food export in European history.

Two thousand years later, the fishery is a shadow of what it was. Twentieth-century over-fishing, MSX and Bonamia disease, TBT antifouling paint contamination, and the collapse of the wider Thames oyster industry reduced the Essex bed to a handful of small operators. But it has never gone away. The Colchester Native is still the oyster on the ice at Wiltons every Tuesday lunchtime, still the oyster J Sheekey serves at pre-theatre, still the oyster that shows up on menus across the West End when the season opens in September.

The families still working the beds

Modern Colchester Native production comes from a small number of Essex families and cooperatives, each with a slightly different territory on the Colne and Blackwater. The most publicly-known is Richard Haward’s Oysters in West Mersea, run by the fifth generation of the Haward family. Their oysters go to Borough Market on Saturdays and to a handful of the top London rooms. The Company Shed on West Mersea, run by the Haward family alongside their harvesting operation, is where you eat them straight off the boat — bring your own bread and wine.

Other Essex operators include Maldon Oyster Company (further up the Blackwater) and the Colchester Oyster Fishery itself, which handles wholesale distribution to the London trade. Between them, they represent the entirety of what is left of a fishery that once employed thousands.

The restoration

Since 2013, the Essex Native Oyster Restoration Initiative (ENORI) has been working with the local operators, the University of Essex, and BLUE Marine Foundation to restore the wider Essex native oyster bed to historical levels. The project has laid tens of thousands of tonnes of shell cultch to give juvenile oysters somewhere to attach and grow, and has enforced strict harvest quotas to give the bed time to recover.

A share of every OYSTR subscription revenue quarter is committed to ENORI’s restoration work. Full detail at /mission.

The season

Colchester Natives are in season from 4 September to 15 May. The traditional opening day is 4 September, which coincides with the historic Colchester Oyster Feast (still held annually since medieval times) and marks the beginning of the London native season on West End menus.

The best months are October through February, when the natives have finished their summer spawn and built proper fat reserves. Colchester Natives on the ice at Wiltons in November are as good as any oyster in Europe.

What they taste like

Colchester Natives have a coppery, hazelnut flavour with a deep marine finish that lingers for a long time after the oyster is gone. The Colne Estuary sits at a specific salinity range that produces oysters with more mineral character than a Loch Ryan (which is more delicately sweet) or a Belon (which is more umami and iron-heavy).

Drink with Muscadet, Chablis, Sauvignon de Touraine, or a proper cold cider from Somerset if you want to be traditional. The Roman-approved pairing is a cold white wine from Campania, but that is now hard to source.

Where you can eat them

The main London customers are Wiltons (traditional buyer for over a century), Sweetings (the City institution since 1889), Bibendum Oyster Bar (Claude Bosi’s ground-floor operation in Chelsea), and Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill. The Company Shed on West Mersea is where you eat them at source. Every venue crediting Colchester Native in the OYSTR app is listed on the venue’s card.

This profile will be updated with real photography and a longer feature after a scheduled visit in October 2026. All facts confirmed against publicly available sources at the time of writing. Any errors are ours to correct; please email hello@oystr.farm if you spot one.