As the general consensus on here is that the STW hive mind has the answer to everything – how do you get rid of the smell of fish from an old building that used to be a fishmongers?!

Not an everyday problem I know. I went to see my eldest son in London where his is managing a bar. It’s a great little place but used to be a fishmongers and it definitely has a lingering aroma – anyone have any ideas of how they can tackle this.

The place has obviously been done up and all original features left have been scrubbed to the nth degree but the smell remains. My son says he believes the worst area is the cellar which was used to store fish

newest brewery/bar in town used to be the fishmongers, I think they removed everything including walls and floor and more.

Salt and vinegar?

Lemon Juice?

Tartare Sauce?

I’ve scrubbed with lemon juice on small areas but you’d need shares in Jif Lemon to do a whole cellar.

^trouble is, how do you get rid of the apalling smell of Febreze?

make a point of selling fish and chips as pub grub…

Shame it’s not a nightclub – they could call it

“All About That Bass”

and make the fishy smell a selling point.

igmc.

Well fish is alkaline so most normal cleaners or bicarb won’t do the trick, you need something acidic like vinegar.

Ideally it would be a deep clean job on the bare room before you go putting in things like new floor, the bar, the tables etc but it’s probably a bit late for that!

Could try boiling up a saucepan of water with a few tablesoons of vinegar in it (or steam cleaning the walls with a similar solution) but that’ll also smell rank for a day or so!

I think you need an enzyme cleaner to get rid of every remaining trace of organic material in the nooks and crannies. Try contacting a distributor of industrial cleaning products and asking what is used on abbatoirs etc. This will be cheaper than using something from the supermarket.

I was going to suggest steam – if everything is pretty much clean on the surface heat/steam will draw out anything that has been absorbed into the fabric of the building.

So I’d probably do that first then paint with something thats a good seal. Depends though on whether fabric of the cellar needs to breath though to prevent damp problems.

Try and have the minimum of soft furnishing as smell emanating from other surfaces will just get soak up by them – and ventilate as much as possible – the smell is finite so having as much air movement as possible will help.

Thanks I shall pass all of this on, maybe steaming the place with malt vinegar will at least make it smell more like a chip shop than a fish wife’s boudoir

Given your posting record OP I am disappointed at the actual content.

Isn’t it the brewery or owners problem to work out ?

Are you being interfering dad ?!? ( all said in jest btw)

Does a cut onion work, like it does on paint fumes? 😆

Double posted 😳

If it’s an achingly authentic bar where they simply must leave exposed brickwork, then I guess it’s going to be harder to sort the smell. Otherwise I’d be sealing the wall/floor and lining it with something.

As above, the owners should be taking an interest if it’s affecting trade.

Unless there’s something that adjustablewench has hidden from us, I doubt it – the clue’s in the name 😉

Get rid of any bar stools that customers tend to perch on…

Lift the smoking ban.

I used to work in a Fishmongers. I fear that you may be attempting something that’s impossible.

Whatever vehicle we used was essentially unsellable once it’d been used for transporting fish because you couldn’t get rid of the smell. One of our refrigerated vans was ‘stolen’ (they all had they keys left in them) and then left abandoned 5 miles away.

The owner used to play squash and had worked there man and boy. When he sweated, the smell of fish came out of his pores (must’ve been lovely force and his wife to compare in the bedroom).

However… Once upon a time, my parents bought a fridge for their restaurant that was previously used to keep perfume. I know this gets more bizarre! We used a plate with bicarbonate of soda on it to ‘soak up the smell’. It worked.

Id love to have a can of something fast acting to use on some cars I have to drive, covered in pet hair and reeking of dogs, or stinking of cigarettes, like three I’ve had recently.
I have one out front that I really could have done with some sort of freshener today, deceased owner, Motability car that’s filthy inside and out, and which has been sat locked up since the owner died several weeks ago. Something nasty has been spilt on the footwell carpet which has gone mouldy, and it smells vile, just what you need for a nearly four hour drive back home from Helston in Cornwall!
Open window really not an option, and a couple of those cardboard freshener jobbies just don’t work, so I could use something for future cars, fortunately I’ve only got a half our drive to deliver it tomorrow – pity the poor soul who’s got to clean the thing out before it gets sold on!
I’ve had two recently covered in pet hair and reeking of dogs, and another that had a plastic container half full of fag buts left in it, and had never been cleaned.
The one I’ve got at the moment had 3480 miles on the clock when I picked it up…
Would Febreeze mask the stink for long enough to deliver a car, or is it just wishful thinking?

PVA/Water and paint it on everything.
Friend had a house had a fire in it and get rid of the smell by using pva sealer

Ha ha – no I’m not an interfering dad . . .just a mother with a vague interest in many things. I have a chemistry degree to my name but rarely use it these days.

I was just pondering how you would shift the smell as it is one that definitely seems to linger.

I have passed this link on to my son who as bar manager is working with the owners to find ways around it. From the sound of it there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution . . . Banning perching may indeed be a start 🙂