Bute had a thriving herring industry in the mid to late 1800s with up to 450 boats using the port. With good transport links the barrels of salted fish could be on the early steamer, transferred on to the London train and be in Billingsgate market by that afternoon. The sight of teams of young women gutting, salting and packing herring on the Esplanade would have been a common sight up till the 1930s. (Shops, Businesses, Occupations) (P20-0062, B9-48)
