Butcher staff at WM Vicars Tony Hayward, Janine Davies, Siim Kivi and Jimmy Deacon
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Traditional butchers benefit from horsemeat scandal
By Doug CoulterFebruary 21, 2013
With nagging doubts increasing over what is in our food in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, shoppers have been making a steady trot to traditional butchers for a source of meat they can trust.
The National Federation of Meat and Food Traders, the trade body that represents independent butchers in England and Wales, said last week there was “definite evidence” that shoppers were turning to traditional butchers.
However, the body that represents supermarkets, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), disagreed.
Spokesman Richard Dodd said: “Our retailers say they haven’t seen any big changes in buying patterns, although there has been more interest in burgers made of fresh meat, rather than frozen.”
The Post spoke to two of Reading's longest established butchers to find out if they have seen any changes in Reading.
WM Vicars and Son in West Street, Reading town centre, has been trading since 1886 and also runs and supplies meat to the popular Sweeney & Todd pie shop in Castle Street.
Tony Hayward has been manager of Vicars for nearly 40 years. He said: “We’ve had quite a healthy increase in trade over the past week or so, with quite a few new faces coming in.”
Independent butchers have a much shorter supply chain than producers of processed meat, and often maintain very close and long standing relationships with their suppliers – a fact shoppers are starting to find very attractive when each day reveals a new thread to the food scare.
Vicars has been using the same suppliers for nearly 35 years and buys meat locally or directly from Scotland.
Mr Hayward continued: “We make burgers and sausages from whole beef carcasses that people can see hanging in the shop. We sell a fully traceable product.”
The dominance of the supermarkets has been bad for traditional butchers with the numbers trading in high streets dwindling.
Mr Hayward added: “I hope we can keep the new customers after the fuss dies down. When Jamie Oliver suggests buying beef on the bone, you have to come to a butcher shop to buy it. If the decline continues the expertise will go with it.”
Manager of Jennings of Caversham, Mike Saunders, has also been welcoming new customers through the door of the shop in St Martin’s Precinct since the horsemeat scandal hit the headlines.
“It’s amazing the number of people who didn’t even know we were here,” he said.
“We’ve had people asking questions about where we get our meat and they say they are able to buy from us with confidence.
“We make all our mince and burgers so we can absolutely guarantee what they are.
“We offer a personal service over the counter, we chat and give advice on how to cook items. Some people will probably drift back to the supermarkets, but we think we can hold on to a lot of them.”
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Most recent user comments 8 of 8
Where did i say i buy the cheap processed dross. I buy the meat, mince it myself and make my own sausages. Everything we eat is fresh and i grow all my own veg and have our own chickens. I am fully aware of how the meat trade works and know what to buy. When i see topside in tescos, morrisons or asda at £6 to £8 a kilo then go to my local farm shop and see the same meat at £11 to £13 a kilo i have to question the difference.
I originally stated quite clearly that i would love to support my local shops on a more regular basis but the expenditure has to be justified.
23/02/2013 at 20:38 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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Morrisons do excellent breads on a par with any independant bakers. I am not talking about prepacked 19p a loaf rubbish. I think you will find they do not have higher overheads.
#racing snake
Glad you are lucky enough to be able to pay nearly twice the price for your shopping. I would love to as well but i have other bills that need to be paid. "Pay a little extra for superb quality" Where do you go to get this superb quality at just a 'little extra'.
23/02/2013 at 16:41 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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23/02/2013 at 14:21 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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I think you will find that an indepedent shop has much higher overheads per sale than a supermarket. The more we use them the further they can spread their overheads.
As for a loaf from a baker being the same as one from a supermarket you must be joking. The materials used and the taste of the final product are very different even from the "artisan" products sold at high prices in the supermarkets.
22/02/2013 at 13:18 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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I know you get what you pay for but a loaf is a loaf and at the end of the day a steer is a steer. Farm shops and independants do not have the huge overheads that supermarkets do but are very much dearer. Until this is redressed i fear little will change. I long for the day i can visit four or five different shops to get my weekly food but at present it is not financially viable.
21/02/2013 at 20:51 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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21/02/2013 at 16:52 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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21/02/2013 at 15:53 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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Well done Tony (and Alan) keep up the great service.
21/02/2013 at 13:52 Offensive or Inappropriate?
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