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A silent auction that started as the city slept signalled the start of a new era for Sydney’s seafood enthusiasts from 4am on Monday. Dozens of traders didn’t skip a beat as they bid on some 60 tonnes of fish and crabs inside the glass-walled auction room of the new $836 million Sydney Fish Market.
Hours later, customers gathered outside to be the first through the doors of the retail floor at 7am. By lunchtime, ballooning crowds were told to wait in line or return later as the complex reached its capacity of 5000 patrons and the queue of hopeful customers snaked along Bridge Road in inner-city Glebe.
Hungry crowds swarmed the new Sydney Fish Market, which opened on Monday after years of travails. Credit: Wolter Peeters
Premier Chris Minns, opening the building on Monday morning, said Sydney was now home to the “biggest and best fish market in the world”. The state government has touted the new fish market as the third major landmark on Sydney Harbour, joining the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and expects it will attract more than six million local and international visitors each year.
The long-awaited complex to replace the tired old fish market at Pyrmont was driven by the former Coalition state government and has been characterised by cost blowouts, construction delays, legal squabbles, disagreements with tenants and fishers based at the old site, and financial uncertainty.
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George Costi, of fish markets stalwart Claudio’s Seafoods, which had operated from the old site for four decades, said the crowds on day one in the new building had been akin to those during the frantic New Year’s Eve rush.
“It’s been phenomenal – I knew it was always going to be busy but not to the extent it has been today,” he said.
“There’s always the novelty factor of today being the first day, but I’m expecting it to remain steady [in the coming weeks].”
Nicholas Seafood’s Suraj Lama, who shucks about 200 sets of a dozen oysters a day, described the cavernous market building with its gleaming wave-like roof as “kind of different”.
“I’ll be honest, it doesn’t have the same vibe. But change is good,” Lama said.
Christie’s Seafood partner Mandy Kwok said staff had modelled its retail space on the famed Tokyo Tsukiji fish market, with a design that enabled customers to speak with workers as they perused tanks and tubs of fresh fish, scallops, abalone, southern rock lobsters, king crabs and pipis.
Kwok was cautiously optimistic about the new building, which she said was “much more high-end” than the crumbling Pyrmont site. But she said rusted-on tenants faced “many challenges ahead with a different venue”.
“The government has invested a lot of money to get us here. So we do appreciate it, and we are trying to work with the new Sydney Fish Market [company]. It’s a new chapter … It looks great, no smell!” Kwok said.
Hundreds of visitors arrived at the market early to admire the new building from the inside and to sample the fresh and cooked seafood, sushi, baked goods and coffee on offer from 40 retailers.
The complex was designed by world-renowned Danish architects 3XN in collaboration with BVN Architecture and Aspect Studios. Its distinctive roof is designed to resemble fish scales.
Among those impressed by its size was visitor Maite Inae, who said: “It feels like an airport.”
Hannah Naseem, who joined a queue outside GetFish, said the “hardest thing has been choosing which place to eat at. You have to be patient, but the food looks amazing so we don’t mind waiting.”
As the lunchtime crowds ballooned, the patience of many would-be visitors wore thin as fish market staff told visitors the market was at capacity five hours into the grand opening day.
As of 12.45pm, the queue time to enter the market was running at 20 to 30 minutes. Among those told to wait or turned away was Alex Jensen, who took a train and tram to experience the opening.
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“All we were told is that it’s full and we either have to queue up or come back later,” he said. “It’s disappointing because we made the trip especially to be here.”
Visitors have been encouraged to use public transport, including buses and light rail. There has been heavy scrutiny on car parking, with the new facility offering the same number of spaces (400) as the old market, despite expecting double the visitors.
Manly resident Alan Gerhardt was among the crowd who braved the trip via car mid-morning on Monday.
“It was quite easy to find a spot because of the wardens – it’s not as bad as DFO [Homebush] on a weekend. But it’s expensive – the ticket is $50 for three hours so we won’t be sticking around.”
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