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Butchers to look out for: S J Bebbington Butchers, Chester

S J Bebbington Butchers of Chester has been established since 1993 and for 19 years was based in Chester Market before moving to modern new premises in Westminster Park 18 months ago. Run by Stuart Bebbington, who comes from a family of farmers, the shop prides itself on the quality of the produce they sell and the friendly customer service.

Mar 17 2014, 11:37 AM
Butchers to look out for: Broughs Butchers

Broughs Butchers is an established chain of 6 independent butchers across Merseyside and Lancashire which has built a reputation for selling superior quality traceable meat, born on British farms.

Dec 06 2013, 10:22 AM
Butchers to look out for: H Hofmann & Sons Ltd, Wakefield

Owned by brothers Nigel and David Hofmann, H Hofmann & Sons has been a family business since 1896 and has an excellent reputation and a loyal customer base to its 6 butcher, bakery and confectionery shops across Wakefield.

Oct 22 2013, 1:32 PM
Butchers to look out for: David Swain’s Butchers, York

David Swain’s Butchers has been part of York market since 1997 and has earned itself a loyal customer base locally. The market butchers sells various cuts of local pork, lamb and 21 day matured beef, including old fashioned cheaper cuts, such as ox cheek, short rib, shin beef and oxtail.

Oct 21 2013, 2:48 PM
Butchers to look out for: S&D Kirk Butchers, Cheshire

S & D Kirk Butchers is a reputable family run butchers with a farm shop in Styal, on the outskirts of Wilmslow, and a traditional butchers shop on Hale Barns high street, both selling a comprehensive range of quality locally sourced meat, poultry, cooked meats, pies and seasonal game.

Jul 05 2013, 10:35 AM
Butchers to look out for: B & T Kitson Ltd, Northallerton, Stockton-On-Tees and Hutton Rudby

The Kitson family has been running B&T Kitson butchers since 1693 and took over the shop they currently trade from in Stockton-On-Tees in 1903. B&T Kitson Ltd is a family run business through and through and Anthony’s mother, sister, two sons and even his 3 year old daughter all get stuck in.

Dec 10 2012, 10:05 AM
Butchers to look out for: JB Meays and Sons, Yeadon

lA warm welcome always awaits any customer to this shop which is currently run by 3 generations of the Meays family. Brian Meays has 60 years experience in the butchery trade and began working at their shop in Yeadon at the age of 13. His son, Stuart, joined straight from school and has been working with his father for 34 years. Stuart’s three sons also help out part time in the shop.

Nov 08 2012, 10:03 AM
Butchers to look out for: Cedar Barn Farm Shop

Karl and Mandy Avison opened Cedar Barn Farm Shop in 2007 with the vision of providing customers with access to home-grown and locally sourced products. It quickly became a popular hot spot for local foodies and has won the Best On-Farm Café / Restaurant in the National FARMA Awards for 2011.

Oct 12 2012, 3:10 PM
Butchers to look out for: Danny’s Family Butchers

Danny’s Family Butchers, owned by butcher, Danny McCluskey, has been in business for seven years. He make all the sausages and burgers himself and offers a range of freshly marinated meats, including chicken, chops and belly pork, marinated in sauces such as Chinese, garlic and hot and spicy.

Oct 09 2012, 4:30 PM
Butchers to look out for: Partridge Farm, Tiverton, Devon

Partridge Farm is a beautiful 75 acre farm set in the lush Devon countryside. Duncan & Hannah have now lived on Partridge Farm for 4 years in January 2014, with their twin boys George & Freddie who are already farmers in the making.

Sep 28 2012, 2:48 PM
Butchers to look out for: Turnbull’s of Alnwick

This award winning family butchers and greengrocers in Northumberland, established for over 100 years, is owned by Master Butcher and Chairman of the North East Q Guild of Butchers, Mark Turnbull. Mark’s father, John, still works part-time in the business, and his son, Daniel, has just joined the company having completed a Physics degree.

Sep 28 2012, 2:39 PM
Butchers to look out for: Blacker Hall Farm Shop, West Yorkshire

Since being established in 1999, Blacker Hall Farm Shop has built an outstanding reputation for selling locally sourced, superior quality produce. The shop is owned by the Garthwaite family who run a local farming enterprise which supplies the majority of the beef, lamb and pork for the farm shop.

Sep 28 2012, 2:31 PM
Butchers to look out for: J Brindon Addy, West Yorkshire

Known locally as Addy’s butchers, this shop in Hade Edge was established in1993 by Brindon Addy and David Cannon. Brindon is the elected regional Chairman of the Q Guild of Butchers and the shop is widely recognised for its experienced butchers who buy the very best local meat.

Sep 28 2012, 2:18 PM
Butchers to look out for: Aubrey Allen, Warwickshire

At Aubrey Allen, in Warwickshire, three generations of Allens have been serving customers since 1933. The company prides itself on carefully selecting its suppliers and can trace its meat back to the farm it came from. It is renowned for its superior meat, including grass-fed Cornish lamb and free-range pork produced by Farmer’s Weekly Pig Farmer of the Year 2005, Jimmy Butler. Aubrey Allen has built a reputation based on the quality of its beef, sourcing only the finest beef cattle, and its traditional dry aging for up to 28 days, which results in tasty and tender beef.

Aug 10 2012, 1:32 PM
Butchers to look out for: Bennetts Quality Meats Ltd, Bury

Bennett's Quality Meats, established since 1919, is a third generation family butchers now run by Martyn, Jeremy and Tim Bennett.

Aug 10 2012, 1:09 PM
Butchers to look out for: Elite Meat, Starbeck, Harrogate

Elite Meat is a traditional family butchers offering locally reared high quality free range meat. They pride themselves on traditional “know how” and they make a wide range of pies, sausages and ready meals daily from a range of recipes that have received many national awards.

Jul 26 2012, 10:56 AM
Butchers to look out for: Corry's Butchers, Bramhall

Neil Corry is a 2nd generation butcher and has been trading from his shop in Cheshire for 20 years. Corry's butchers are proud to be members of the prestigious Q Guild of butchers of which there are only 120 in the country.

Jun 29 2012, 12:34 PM
Butchers to look out for: Radford’s Butchers

Andrew Radford is a 5th generation butcher who has been in the meat trade since he was 8 years old and took over Radford’s Butchers 30 years ago with his father, Peter.

Jun 29 2012, 12:15 PM
Butchers to look out for: Addyman’s Butchers, Harrogate

Husband and wife team, Keith and Sue Addyman, have run their butchers shop on Commercial Street for 35 years. Keith is a 4rd generation butcher whose butchery heritage goes as far back as his Great Granddad who started off selling meat at Leeds Market, before opening a shop in Westgate, Leeds.

Jun 28 2012, 3:35 PM
Butchers to look out for: Yorkshire Farmer’s Meat Company, Harrogate

Established in 1936, and situated in the heart of Harrogate, the shop has a feel of an old-fashioned butcher, updated for the modern shopper.

May 31 2012, 2:14 PM

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Jay Rayner

The award winning Observer Food Critic and One show journalist.

Jay currently chairs the new Radio 4 food panel show, The Kitchen Cabinet, having recently appeared as judge on Masterchef and The Great British Waste Menu, and hosted Channel 4's magazine show Food: What Goes in your Basket?

Now, more than ever, we need to know where our meat is coming from, and your local butcher is best placed to give you that vital information. There is no substitute for buying your meat from the people who sourced it. They are the ones who know how it was raised, how it was slaughtered and how best to cook it. If we lose our local butchers we lose an irreplaceable part of the food chain.

Brian Turner

A popular face on our TV screens, Yorkshire-born Brian’s career started in less glamorous circumstances - cooking breakfasts at his dad's transport café.

Your local butcher really cares about the meat he sells and the people he sells to. He deserves your support- let’s not lose him now.

Rosemary Shrager

Rosemary Shrager, talented TV chef and cookery school teacher, is renowned for her role on reality TV show, Ladette to Lady. Rosemary has worked for Pierre Koffman at the famous Tante Claire restaurant in London and also for super chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

Rosemary’s TV career began with series Rosemary – Castle Cook, followed by Rosemary on the Road, both for Channel 5. She is now a familiar face on ITV, following up her Rosemary Shrager's School For Cooks series with regular appearances on The Alan Titchmarsh Show.

It is so important to support butchers, if we do not then they will go and then we really will miss them. These people know where all their food has come from, generally sourcing everything from the local area’s farmers. Support for your butcher is support for the wider farming community.

Tom Parker Bowles

Tom is a food writer and broadcaster with a weekly column in The Mail on Sunday and is Food Editor at Esquire magazine.
His books include E Is For Eating – An Alphabet of Greed, The Year of Eating Dangerously and Full English; A Journey Through the British and Their Food. He also co-presented Market Kitchen on Good Food Channel and presented LBC Radio's Food and Drink Programme.

The steady loss of our local butchers is cause for serious alarm. Just 2 months back my favourite butcher, Kingsland and Son, fell victim to a fierce rent hike and was forced to move out. The whole area is still reeling from the loss. Because butchery is both art and science. Not just in the physical act of separating different cuts from a carcass, but the wealth of knowledge any serious butcher has; where the meat comes from, how long the beef was hung, what cuts are better suited to braising than roasting. Support your local butchers. For the sake of the community, and your taste buds too.

Joanna Blythman

Joanna Blythman is Britain’s leading investigative food journalist and an influential commentator on the British food chain. She has won four Glenfiddich awards for her writing, including a Glenfiddich Special Award for her first book, The Food We Eat, a Caroline Walker Media Award for Improving the Nation’s Health by Means of Good Food, and a Guild of Food Writers Award for The Food We Eat.

We need to cherish the excellent traditional butchers who have kept going valiantly in the teeth of the supermarket takeover of our food chain. As the Meat Crusade puts it, if one in 10 of us returned to our local butcher that would be make a real difference. And if one in five of us did so, even once a week, it could start a revolution.