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Gary Donahue with a fish ready to go...

It started off in a shed on the banks of the picturesque River Test, but now a Chilbolton business is serving clients from far and wide.

The River Test Smokery is situated down a quiet lane in the sleepy village and now smokes some 7,000 fish per year for anglers, retail businesses and restaurants.

Started by Jeff Hounslow in 1987, it marked 20 years in existence at the end of last year. It all began when Mr Hounslow was river keeper and some locals asked him if he could smoke their fish.

He started up in a shed and things expanded from there. Mr Hounslow has now sold most of his share in the business, but continues as one of three directors.

The day-to-day operation is looked after by manager, Gary Donahue, and Dena Warburton.

Mr Donahue said: "It was just one small building and that was it. There were a few fish from the river for friends and a few of the villagers but the place has become very well known and now we have people from across Europe having their fish smoked here."

He said anglers came from as far away as Norway and Sweden to fish in the Test and then had their catches smoked in Chilbolton before being shipped back.

The River is at the bottom of the smokery's garden, so the fish couldn't be any fresher when it arrives.

Anglers can also come back to Chilbolton with their catches from around the country.

The 27-year-old manager added: "People also go to Scotland to fish for salmon and they bring them back here to be smoked, even though there's hundreds of smokeries in Scotland."

Mr Donahue said the small smokery could compete with supermarkets and big retailers by offering what he said was fundamentally a unique service - using brick kilns fired by oak chippings.

The process, which takes three to four days, is simple and operates on a system of trust. Keen fishermen and women will know that the best time to catch is at dawn and dusk, but that is no problem for the smokery.

Anglers can leave their fresh catch in a freezer on site at any time of the day or night.

When Mr Donahue and his colleague arrive for work, they pick up the latest pieces of business and the process begins.

First of all, they are gutted and filleted, then preserved in salt, which means the finished product keeps fresh in a fridge for up to a fortnight. Once they are preserved, the fish are washed and put in the kilns, where they spend the next 18 hours.

Staff check on the smoking process every hour and no preservatives are used at all - even the oak chippings that fire the kilns are sourced from the New Forest.

Mr Donahue, who has been manager since June 2006, added: "That appeals to a lot of people these days. It's as close to organic as you can get without slapping a label on it."

He said the Chilbolton smokery could claim to be unique because of the kiln process.

"With the mechanised versions of it you get an alright' product, but it's the equivalent of what you get in a supermarket, there's no attention to each individual fish.

"It also means we can keep an eye on them. There's more attention to the fish."

Once smoked, the fish is left to hang in the kiln for a further six hours and then sliced and vacuum-packaged ready to eat.

Mr Donahue, 27, said anglers had high standards of smoking - higher than could be had in a normal supermarket.

"They know what they want, they will tell us as well," he said.

It is a specialised business and therefore not cheap - each fish, up to 8lb in weight, costs £8 to be smoked, bigger ones than that cost an extra pound per pound. Customers tend to bring anything between one and 40 fish in at a time, said Mr Donahue.

Peak season is May to August, although only January and February are truly quiet - at Christmas time most business comes from the retail sector.

The smokery tries to keep waiting times down to a week or less, but it can get hectic.

"At certain times of the year it can get crazy, we can have ten freezers full."

The hope is to expand links with businesses more, serving hotels and restaurants, for example.

They have already had some success - the Lainston House Hotel at Sparsholt is one client - and the smokery hopes to capitalise on the trend for locally-sourced foods.

"People who know their stuff do look to come to us and the fact that it is local has an appeal. We can tell them where and when it was caught and even who caught it," said Mr Donahue. SS For more details about the River Test Smokery call 01264 860813 or visit rivertest.net.

3:35pm Wednesday 9th July 2008

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