A renamed fish that was cheekily dubbed “a load of pollacks” has been flying off Shropshire shelves after being given a fashionable makeover.

Pollack has been renamed colin by Sainsbury’s and is proving a hit with customers at the Shrewsbury store. The chain gave the variety a new name and bespoke packaging on Monday in a bid to boost sales in the run-up to Easter. Pollack – or colin – has a similar mild taste to cod and is also more sustainable.

Today Paul Proctor, deputy store manager of Sainsbury’s at Shrewsbury, said: “We’ve renamed the fish and redesigned the packaging, by putting an outer sleeve on the original packet.

“We’re one of 10 UK stores trialling the renamed fish and the response has been very, very positive. We usually sell around a pack of pollack per day. But that figure has now risen to around three packs.”

Mr Proctor added that lots of customers were asking about the fish and were impressed with the packaging.

He said: “The idea is that it is cheaper than cod, it is greener than cod, but it is more environmentally responsible.”

Sainsbury’s at Shrewsbury sells basic Alaskan colin at £4.99/kg, smoked Alaskan colin at £5.59kg and skin-on colin at £9.90/kg. The limited edition packaging has been designed by Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway and is inspired by artist Jackson Pollock.

Mr Hemingway said: “As a keen fisherman it seems daft that pollack isn’t more popular, particularly when it’s readily available off our own coast, tastes great and is cheaper than cod.

“Image really is everything; so to help ‘colin’ stand out on-shelf we’ve used bold, bright colours and a design that is cheekily inspired by another well-known pollack (artist Jackson Pollock).”

Sainsbury’s sales of pollack were 3,947 units in March, against 52,904 for haddock and 98,722 for cod.

The name colin comes from the French word for hake, another member of the cod family. It is pronounced col-an. Pollack is far more popular in France, which is one of Britain’s biggest customers for the fish.