Where to buy fresh fish at Staffordshire?

[Starkiwi26]

Dear fellow mumsnet members,

I had been reading a lot of helpful topics here, and finally board the ship today.
Well, I work full time, always feel guilty to neglect my family, therefore no matter how tired I am, I promise to cook for my family during weekend. I try to give the freshest and healthiest, therefore I walk Tesco every Saturday morning to buy the fresh vegetable, meat and fish. I always buy the fresh fish from Tesco fishmonger counter, until today chit chat with my neighbour, I learned the fish sold at Tesco fishmonger is not actually fresh fish - it was frozen fish but Tesco fishmonger defrost them in controlled environment.
This information is shocking to me, because I go Tesco every Saturday morning, insist to buy the more expensive fresh fish (compared to frozen fish), but I was just buying defrosted fish. If there are no different, probably I should just buy frozen fish (cheaper too) next time instead, just defrost them by putting them to fridge from Friday morning, and ready to cook on Saturday morning, save me trip to Tesco every Saturday morning too.
a) Could you please comment?
b) Also, is there anywhere I can buy fresh fish at Staffordshire?
c) When I visited Sydney 5 years ago, there was a big fish market, where not only we can buy fresh fish but you can also choose the fish, and the fishmonger can cook for you on the spot. It was such an amazing experience. Do we have similar fish market at UK?

Many thanks.

Staffordshire is quite a big area

Any particular part of Staffordshire?

In case anyone interested with the Sydney fish market, the place is as below. My visit was 2013, you can pick the fish, and the fishmonger can cook on order. I love seafood, it was fantastic experience.
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g255060-d257405-Reviews-Sydney_Fish_Market-Sydney_New_South_Wales.html

James Stone in Newcastle.

If you like the convenience of a delivery, have you tried Gousto boxes? We had a haddock dish on Friday night and, as always, the fish is good quality.

I stay at Stafford

There should a Fishmongers in Stafford called Parker’s of Stafford.

Another vote for Parkers. It's in Mill Street, has been there for decades and they're very good.

Also, what about your local Sainsbury's or Morrison's. Our Morrison's Wet Fish counter is really good, with a great selection.

Quite a lot of the fish you buy, even at a fishmonger will be defrosted.
Some places you can buy straight from the boat on the dock ( not Staffordshire, obviously), which will be locally caught species from relatively close to the shore - mackerel, codling, whiting and so on.
Most species are fished a long way away and then frozen on board as they wouldn't survive the journey otherwise. A lot of it is then processed ( filleted, skinned, shelled) in China before heading here for sale.
Prawns are normally imported frizen, a lot of cod and species like tuna, halibut etc.
Agree with PP Morrison's seem to have the best selection, but some will still be previously frozen

Visited the Parker’s of Stafford, the Cod fillet cost £18/kg (if I remember correctly) which is more expensive than Tesco fishmonger (£13.50/kg), didn't taste too different. But Parker’s of Stafford is closed on Sunday. I picked up Mark & Spencer vacuum packed cod fish fillet on Sunday, cost £17/kg (if I remember correctly), taste good.
Is the vacuum packed cod fish had been frozen at sea also? I am curious, because Mark & Spencer keep them at fridge (not freezer) and the fish can long for a few days.
Is fish from fishmonger better or vacuum pack better?

More than likely they have all been frozen. On the packaging or ticket on the fishmonger's counter it will tell you ( by law) where the fish was caught e.g. Northeastern Atlantic, with a named subdivision, or a little map,to show you exactly where in the Atlantic. Russia, Norway etc it will have been filited and frozen on board.
A fishmonger in a coastal town might have locally caught cod, but in a non-coastal town, not so likely.
There's nothing wrong with either the counter or the vac-pack version. The freezing on board means it's much fresher than packing in ice for transport.
Vac-packing just gives a few days extra life.

Thanks all for the advices.
As a conclusion for whoever has similar question and future reference, I messaged M&S today, they confirmed the cod fish had been previously frozen. Like Weedsnseeds1 said, most probably all Cod fish in the market are freezed at sea to maintain freshness. I am quite disappointed, what is the point I walk to the town and buy the fish when we can get them frozen at 50% of the price, and conveniently available at freezer? This is very high margin for supermarket to defrost the fish and sell... Also, who know how many days the fish is placed at the counter after they defrost. Well, I can also just transfer the frozen fish from freezer to fridge 8-12 hours before cooking to defrost it, save me 50% of the price and need not walk to the town just to get the fish.

Not sure if this is of any Regal Fish I live In Bedfordshire and get fresh and frozen fish from this company every 6 weeks or so. They come out of Barton upon Humber

The only real difference is that the bags of frozen fillets tend to be the tail ends, slightly wonky pieces etc. So they will be a bit thinner and not such an even shape. That shouldn't really be an issue if you aren't aiming for a Michelin Star!

I visited M&S again yesterday. I notice the vegetables at M&S is actually quite good, the lemon selling at 42p is a lot larger and better than Tesco lemon which is 35p but small and tasteless. Stafford town centre has Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, Aldi and M&S all nearby, which one do you normally get your grocery normally?
I am thinking to switch all my grocery shopping to M&S for better quality food. As I has small family and I cook only during weekend, the additional expenses in grocery spending at M&S is negligible compared to take away/drive through food. But, look at the lemon alone, 7p extra get me a huge lemon!

I tend to vary where I shop, due to a non-office based job. Usually Sainsbury's or Morrison's. But I top up in Asian, Polish, Spanish, Turkish shops when I can for specialist ingredients.