in manchester the shambles has always meant the fish market

Nice meeting you dody - another fellow Brit, and yet another set of pronunciations for the Board!

Yeah, that reference on shambles (confused onlookers please see my previous post for happy as a sandboy link) talks about the wooden bench upon which butchers used to display, and maybe carve up, their wares. Maybe fishmongers used something similar?

As for "dodgy dealings", you still get those at markets, eh?

Fisk