Traditional smokehouses served both as meat and fish smokers and to store the food afterwards. The kipper, for example, was invented in 1843 after considerable experiment, and remains popular today. These are mildly smoked and dried and contain minimum salt as condiment. In the same period (the mid-1800s), the smoked fish products recognisable in today's market came into being. This caused a decline in the popularity of heavily smoked products. The use of transport by railways and steam ships from the 1840s allowed the transportation of perishables, so large quantities of fresh fish could be moved from one place to another. The market for smoked fish underwent a major change in the mid to late nineteenth century. Not on the menu: Thanks to a council ban, smoked kippers are not currently served at the family-run Walter Purkis & Sons fish shop (file picture)ДЇish has been smoked throughout history for the purpose of preservation, although the invention of fridges means the practice is mainly used just for flavouring in developed countries. 'What next? A Haringey ban on summer barbecues? Will firework parties fall foul of officialdom?'Д¬rouch End councillor David Winskill has also backed the business, and is campaigning for the practice to be allowed again. 'But that was in a different borough, where perhaps 'pollution' means something different. 'And, not so far away, near the Olympic Park, a big new smokehouse has recently been opened. He said: ' A supplier of excellent, healthy, locally-processed, traditional foods - commended by Rick Stein and popular across north London- is being put out of business without consultation by ill-judged council action that can only be described as heavy-handed. He added little smoke was emitted anyway as it was contained in the smokehouse so that it could be absorbed by the fish. ' We employ local people and have got six staff working for us. 'To afford the rents and rate, we have got to have our turnover,' Mr Purkis added. The family were able to complete their Christmas orders, but the ban has lost them 40 per cent of their turnover. He added he had no idea how the monitoring had taken place, and they had not received any data. John Purkis said he were initially unaware that council officers had started to monitor the business since October, leading to the ban beginning on December 21. Not happy: Councillor David Winskill for Crouch End is fighting the case for the now unused smokehouse 'To do what they are suggesting, we would need to have a completely different system put in.' 'We use nothing but natural wood with no chemicals added. 'But if it's smoke free, it's not smoked fish. But they are saying it's an unauthorised fuel and they want us to use a smoke-free wood, which is chemically enhanced. 'We smoke with oak chip, which is pure wood. 'The last e-mail we got was yesterday from Haringey Council. I have been here 20 years and no one ever said anything about health inspections so this was a shock.

His son John Purkis, 42, added: 'It's really disappointing. 'If we can't do this anymore we will have to pack up.' 'We have been doing this the same way for five or six generations back, and so did the people who had shop before me, they also did it for five generations. Referring to the residents, Mr Purkis, 65, said: 'We have never had a problem and we have been here 130 years.

Not in stock: Empty spaces in the shop counter where the smoked fish used to be sold before the traders were ordered to stop smoking it

Tuck you up like a kipper