Detailed anatomical and forensic skills, expert husbandry knowledge and obliging service remain the hallmark of a good butcher......now try and find that in your supermarket.. Shepherds Butchers Review.

SHEPHERDS FAMILY BUTCHERS
191 Rochdale Rd, Bury , BL9 7BB 
Tel. 0161-764 1067

Link; Location

Take a look at most supermarket meat counters and you will be confronted with row's of sterile vac-packed fillets, chops, joints and sausages. You'd never know there was more to an animal than the regimented display on offer. Firstly, the vac-pack prevents the meat to breathe (meat needs to breathe!). Secondly, it needs age for flavour so the push for a quick turn around from the supplier to your dinner table, to show itself in the supermarket enormous profits, means the meat is tastelessly underhung.

The power the large supermarket chains have over their suppliers is causing an unfair balance of power - it has been widely reported that many farmers only receive 3p per chicken from supermarkets, a farmer selling his beef to the supermarket will receive just 9p for every £1 spent, so the supermarket keeps the remaining 91p. This practise of offering 'cheap' food for the largest profits is encouraging intensive farming methods.This has a massive welfare, sustainability and ecological impact. Good quality meat comes from animals that have enough space to roam, are not pumped full of antibiotics and are fed decent food.

My argument for supporting your local butcher? If you take into consideration the superior taste of the local meat and poultry, the treatment of the animal, the sustainability and the ecological impact, there really is no competition. A local butcher will invariably be keen to tell you where they source their meat from, the slaughter process and what storage methods they use,they will have incredible knowledge about how to utilise different cuts of meat, what is best for a particular dish, they can recommend cheaper cuts of meat that you may not have tried before and how to cook them or suggest good value meal ideas and much more. You are very unlikely to find a butcher has Hungarian chickens that have been in cold storage for a couple of months, selling food from animals reared on genetically modified crops without having to declare it on labelling, selling bacon that is breaking food regulations by containing too much water - 'unsavoury' practices that you will find in many supermarkets.

So, my dear friends, let me take you inside my local butchers and meet the three man team.

from left to right..

Adam, the trainee butcher

Dave, the distinguished baker

Howard, the owner and Master Butcher

The Shepherd family took over the shop in 1963 and was run by Howard's father, Bob, until his semi-retirement in the year 2000. He handed the reigns over to Howard who had worked and trained under his father since leaving school in 1976.

Bob was a much loved and respected figure in the community and local business circles. I clearly remember his teatime visits to the 'Dreg Session' in The Peel, which stands a couple of doors up from his shop. He was a big man who could cast a shadow as he walked into the pub for his customary couple of whisky's, adorned in his blue pin-striped apron tied tightly over a white overall.  A short liquid break whilst Howard was left to 'clean down' at the end of the day's business.

Bob sadly passed away in 2006. Now, as then and in the future, the shop will always be known, affectionately by the locals, as 'Bob's Butchers'.

The current team working under Howard's direction came together in a somewhat unorthodox way compared to the usual 'advertise, apply, interview' method of searching for employee's and employment.

Adam was cold calling on businesses enquiring if they ran an apprentice scheme. Unfortunately, he was turned away from all those he called on. He walked home, quite despondent, and seeing the butcher's was still open as he wandered past, decided to pop in and see if there was anything going. The rest, as they say, is history.

Dave was renting the flat above the shop when he lost his job. He informed Howard that he might have to give the flat up but asked if there was anything going in the shop. Howard agreed that a part-time role could be found a couple of hours a week, making homemade burgers and general shop work. Now, Dave is a fully qualified chef and baker and has been for 30 years, so to utilise his skills, and to bring extra products into the shop, the idea of homemade pies, freshly baked daily was agreed could be a good business venture. A trial period was agreed and Dave threw himself  into producing quality pies from the kitchen in his flat. He had no access to production machinery so everything was, and still is, made by hand.

 

Within weeks, the pies were flying out the door. The range of fillings increased - meat n potato, cheese n onion, meat, pork n stuffing - they became a pre-dinner staple for the patrons of the 'Dregs Session'  a few doors up. An investment was needed to keep up with demand. With the procurement of an industrial oven, production could be increased and expanded. They could now stock full plate pies, cold pork pies and shepherds pies with other lines currently on the drawing board.. If ya passing and want a winter warmer you can now pop in for a cup of hot and fresh homemade soup.

  Saturday morning I found myself  in carnivorous heaven. A cold cabinet, freshly stocked for the coming day's business, displayed beef joints and cuts, patrician-rich with claret-coloured flesh and thick ribbons of golden marbling, golden corn-fed chickens, a selection of thick homemade sausages from the old plain pork, beef and Cumberland to pork n black pudding, pork n leek and the beautiful pork with garlic and spring onion, saucer-sized  homemade burgers, freshly minced lean steak. The array of different meats and cuts beckoned me to empty my wallet and run home with overloaded bags to stock my fridge and freezer for the coming month

Look away from the meat counter and you find well stocked shelves of  Farmhouse Recipes condiments, pickled onions, chutneys, jams and casserole sauces, local eggs, as well as the aforementioned cold pies and foiled shepherds pies. In the corner sits a sack of 'pick ya'self' local potatoes and a basket overflowing with large onions.

I asked Howard who was business?

"Yea really good. There's been a definite uplift in the last 18 month's. People are becoming more aware and concerned about intensive farming and the detrimental effect that it has on the animals welfare. Good welfare practises produce a superior product, you just won't get that with the forced cheap intensive farming that the supermarkets demand. People also want to know where their meat is sourced, you know, if it has travelled 1000's of miles, been frozen then defrosted and how long it's been sat in storage somewhere. I'm finding more people want locally sourced meat, poultry and other farm stuffs, egg's and the like"

One of the biggest problems with the supermarket v the local butcher is price and convenience

"Price was a great factor but to be honest the price per kg is becoming more into line. The balance is becoming more equal. Yea, you can still buy two chicken's for £6 in some supermarkets, but again you have to question the source, the welfare, the food miles, the storage and the quality in taste of those chickens. Supermarkets are convenient. They sell everything to the kitchen sink under one roof ,with ample parking. At the end of the day, the consumer has to decide if they are happy with the practices that go on to produce that '2 for £6 offer'"

I know a lot of the elderly from the area still do their weekly meat shop here. Is that the demographic of your customer base?

"No, not at all. We see a wide range of different customer's. We will alway's have our customer's who have been with us for year's, but we are seeing a lot of younger people walking through the door. There is no specific demographic. We even have school children popping in on their way home for a cup of hot homemade soup"

Anything else in the business pipeline?

"I'm really proud to announce that we will very soon be offering our own 'free range' pork. Now, how much more local and fresh can you get than that?

So, my friends, if you know of Shepherds Butchers (Bob's Butchers) and not been in for a while, go for a stroll or drive and peruse his offerings. If this review reads familiar to your own local butchers, then off you go as well.

Finally, I will leave you with this; Detailed anatomical and forensic skills, expert husbandry knowledge and obliging service remain the hallmark of a good butcher......now try and find that in your supermarket.

Love, peace and freedom people

                              Cluski