About
We are an Oyster farm
We are an oyster farm, we grow and harvest our oysters from centuries old oyster beds in Pyefleet Creek, Mersea Island in Essex. Our oysters grow on the river bed, not in cages or trestles, but giving them room to grow feeding with the ebb and flow of the clean, nutrient rich brackish water in our river and creeks.

Norovirus free oyster
Colchester Pyefleet Oyster
Colchester Pyefleet oysters are our standard depurated rock oysters that have been subjected to extreme high pressure which results in 4 key benefits:
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Guaranteed norovirus free
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Pre-shucked, in the shell
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The meat is always plump
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Seven day shelf life
The oysters are taken out of our depuration systems, banded and then exposed to 6000 bar of pressure – six times the pressure at the deepest part of the ocean. This process has been scientifically proven to render any virus harmless.
The high pressure causes the oyster to retain water giving a much plumper appearance whilst retaining all our oysters natural flavour and texture. As the process kills all bacteria, we can give a shelf life of seven days. The high pressure also releases the oyster from the shell giving 100% yield and an extremely easy to open oyster.

Our most popular oyster
Colchester Rock Oyster
Colchester rock oysters are our what we grow most on our farm in East Mersea. You can tell a rock oyster by its deep cupped shells.
Oysters take their flavour from their environment, our oyster beds in Pyefleet Creek are surrounded by unspoilt marshland that is refreshed by the cold North Sea twice a day, every day.
It’s these brackish waters that give our oysters their unique flavour profile. Our oysters have an earthy flavour, salty at first but with a creamy truffle like finish. The meaty texture is silky smooth giving a really pleasant mouth feel.
All our oysters are depurated for a minimum of 42 hours, raising to 72 hours in the winter months.
The oysters are packed to order from the tanks, ensuring you have the freshest oysters possible. Rock oysters are available in five sizes, from the smallest Piccolo to the largest AAA, ensuring we have the right sized oyster for your dish.

the world renowned
Colchester Native Oyster
The elusive Colchester native oyster. This is the oyster that grew in abundance and is the reason why our waters are famous for oysters. It is now the centre of our oyster regeneration project. Native oysters are tricky to grow, they die if it is too hot, or too cold, they are slow to grow, taking twice as long as a rock oyster to make market grade.
They are delicate oysters, and we have lost all native oyster stocks in our river countless times, but yet we still try, because there really isn’t any other oyster as delicious as a Colchester Native. They are delicately meaty, savoury but sweet with a lingering taste of the sea.
We have secret beds for native oysters with the ideal conditions for them to grow, where we are leaving them to build up in number. We release a very limited number of Colchester native oysters each year when there is a R in the month and only when stocks allow.

Our Story
Since 1189
Oysters have been grown here since the Roman times when Colchester was the capital of Britain and we are just the latest in a long line of oyster farmers. The rights to the river were first granted in 1189 by King Richard I and it has had many custodians since then. The modern day Colchester Oyster Fishery took over the lease to the river in 1966 and began selling oysters to restaurants and wholesale markets.
What Makes Us Different
We care about our oysters and your customers
We have invested in state of the art oyster equipment to ensure that our oysters are clean, correctly graded, safely depurated and delicious each and every time. Our oyster room houses one of the largest oyster depuration systems in the country, giving us the capacity to supply you during your busiest times. Once cleaned and graded, we depurate the oysters in purified seawater for a minimum of 42 hours.


How we grow oysters
Our oysters are a mix of wild oysters, grown from the brood stock we leave in the river and oyster seed that we lay on the oyster beds. The oyster beds are made up of hundreds of years of shell and stone that is laid down on top of the muddy river bed each year to catch the wild oyster spat and hold the oyster seed. We then let the oysters grow, checking them often to make sure they are growing well until they are big enough to eat.
How we harvest oysters
We have two options when it comes to harvesting our oysters. We can go at low tide by dory to the oyster beds and pick them by hand, selecting only the ones that are the size we want. The other option is to go by boat at high tide and carefully pull a dredge over the oyster beds and sort out the oysters on the boat putting back any that are too small or too big and taking the rest back to the Fishery to be graded and depurated.
Take a look at our oyster beds and come dredging with us.
Why Choose Us
Only The Best
We grow both rock oysters and native oysters.
We have millions of rock oysters growing throughout the 10 hectares that make up our oyster farm, all growing on different beds at different stages so we can be sure to have the variety of size that is required.
We are in the midst of regenerating our native oyster stocks after they were nearly all wiped out a few years ago, so we are leaving natives on the ground until there’s enough to take ashore, whilst leaving enough to produce more native oysters. In the meantime, during the native oyster season, we are sourcing natives from our friends in Whitstable to sell instead.
Rock Oysters

Rock oysters are available all year, they are our core oyster.
You can tell a rock oyster by its shape, the shell has a deep cup.
They are available in three sizes A, AA or AAA with A being the smallest size and a AAA is something that you would use to make a sauce as they are mostly considered too big to eat whole.
Rock oysters are delicious raw or cooked, steamed in the shell or cooked under the grill. The texture firms up and the meat becomes sweeter, much like a mussel.
Shell: Cupped and fluted
Smell: Salty and earthy
Taste: Zinc, mushroom and salty butter
Finish: Almost like a truffle
Texture: Creamy and silky
Availability: All year round
Native Oysters

Native oysters are available from September to April.
You can tell a native oyster by its shape, it has a flat rounded shell.
They are available in three sizes, 1’s, 2’s or 3’s with 3’s being the smallest. As the shell is flat and there’s not much room inside, although big, 1’s are still a good size to eat.
Native oysters should only be enjoyed raw, they are becoming a rarity and as such should be enjoyed simply, with a drizzle of lemon or a dash of tabasco.
Shell: Flat and round
Smell: Fresh and of ozone
Taste: Sweet, ferric and complex
Finish: Samphire and seaweed
Texture: Meaty and firm
Availability: Months with an ‘R’
To open an account
If you would like to open an account with us or to discover more about our seafood, please call us on 01206 384141.
Colchester Oyster Fishery
Nestled on the edge of Pyefleet Creek, the Colchester Oyster Fishery has been supplying the finest seafood since 1966. However, our oyster beds have been in use since Roman times, when Colchester was the capital of Britain.
01206 384141
Pyefleet Quay, East Road, East Mersea, Colchester, Essex. CO5 8UN