Take a butcher’s at these delicious sites to get your fill of meat with provenance delivered to your door.
PROVENANCE VILLAGE BUTCHER
www.provenancebutcher.com
The website of this award-winning chain of modern butcher shops is as alluring as a glossy magazine. Beautifully photographed, it is accessible and bursting with authoritative details about the provenance (see what they did there?) of its prime cuts. The owners – who were brought up in New Zealand but relocated to London 15 years ago – say: ‘We knew that there were good, caring, like-minded farmers around, working with nature, raising animals to the standards that we admired, but the challenge was to find them and bring them under one roof. That’s what we’ve done, and Provenance is where you’ll find them.’
GINGER PIG
thegingerpig.co.uk
Set up by antiques-dealer-turned-farmer Tim Wilson over 20 years ago, The Ginger Pig is a wonderful, trendy, ethical butcher with eight stores around London. Wilson recently had these interesting words to say on the state of the butchery industry: ‘We probably lose £200,000 a year, and you try and get it to break even but it’s very hard. I like to do new things but people will not change; you’ve got to do it, let them see it, and then you’ve got to provide the market. And people now know we’ve got the shops in London. Luckily the retail, and the demand for meat, grows pretty much as the supply grows.’ Believe us when we say that once you’ve tasted GP’s sausage rolls, it’s impossible to look back. On the comprehensive website, you can book a wildly popular butchery class, pick up a recipe book and order a delivery to your door of cuts from exceptional British livestock.
C. LIDGATE
www.lidgates.com
Lidgate’s, as it is known, is covered in awards and celebrity endorsements. Danny Lidgate is the fifth generation of his family to run this exceptional 150-year-old butchery business. He and his father David personally select organic and grass-fed beef, lamb and pork from free range and organic farms and estates and sell it with charm to upper-crust ladies from the Holland Park shop. Luckily for the rest of us, you can buy all of the family’s award-winning pies, sausages, game, poultry, beef, lamb, cheese, condiments and treats from the deli section via a straightforward website. Warning: it could become an expensive habit.
PARSON’S NOSE
parsonsnose.co.uk
A fancy butcher’s with a fancy website, the Parson’s Nose arrived in Fulham in 2007 and now has three popular London stores. The family behind the business had one clear aim in mind: ‘to bring back the traditional butchers shop that was so loved from our childhood memories’. They say: ‘At Parson’s Nose, we have tried to do this fond memory justice – by sourcing the finest free-range meats and artisanal products and combining that with knowledgeable and personal service from the best butchers in town.’ The shops are lovely and the site is brilliant, too. Fresh, clean and modern, it inspires total confidence in the meat (and gorgeous pantry items) available to buy through it.
HG WALTER
www.hgwalter.com
HG Walter has been sourcing meat from small, passionate British farmers and selling it in its Baron’s Court shop since 1972. Another excellent, family-run butcher, it supplies over thirty Michelin-Star restaurants and is beloved of many of London’s chefs, food writers and critics. The team says: ‘We’re running an old business on young legs; combining expertise with innovation.’ Nowhere is this more evident than on its slick website. You can buy all produce online, with each order carefully prepared by an expert and hand-packaged before being delivered to your doorstep. The prime cuts speak for themselves but we recommend you give the homemade scotch quail eggs a go, too. The site is also home to lovely tips, recipes and articles that are a joy to read.
WILLIAM ROSE
www.williamrosebutchers.co.uk
One of the oldest butchers in London, William Rose was founded in Vauxhall in 1862 and moved to East Dulwich in August 2005. The queues are as legendary as the meat itself. Their mission statement is clear: ‘At William Rose, we specialise in bringing our customers premium quality organic and free-range meat, poultry and game. We only source from suppliers with the highest standards of welfare from across the UK.’ Enough said. With great typography and illustration, the website is remarkably cool. We love the calendar detailing which produce is in season when. Though they do deliver, there is no online store; instead you place your order via email.
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Updated July 2021