City centre woos butchery business
A SPECIALIST butcher’s shop has opened in Manchester city centre eight years after the last traditional outlet closed.
Underlining the current taste for fine city living, former banker Steve Pilkington has opened The Butcher’s Quarter, courtesy of a £50,000 loan from Business Finance Solutions (BSF).
The outlet on Tib Street in the city’s Northern Quarter is the only traditional butcher in Manchester city centre, following the closure of the last one in 2007.
The shop stands on the site of a former butcher’s that closed in 1975 and Steven has preserved many of the premises’ original features such as the floor, walls and signage.
Pilkington, whose grandparents and great grandparents owned two butchers’ shops in Accrington, will be running the shop with his partner Michelle Welshman and fourth generation butchers Mike Walton and Rowan Brown.
The shop will be selling a range of premium and locally sourced on and off the bone meats, burgers and cooked meats, speciality sausages, deli products, premium wines and a range of gastro meals made by the resident butchers.
Pilkington says all of The Butcher’s Quarter meat is sourced locally from North West farms to ensure full traceability and the shop also stocks other premium local produce including JJ Sandham’s cheese and The Real Lancashire Black Pudding.
Steven said: “For years Manchester city centre has been missing a traditional butcher’s shop where people can buy fresh quality meat, find out where it came from, get advice on different cuts and how best to cook and serve it.
“People today really want to know the origins of their meat and how it has been prepared and that is exactly what The Butcher’s Quarter is able to do with our focus on quality and traceability and the skills of our butchers.
“With the help of the BFS Business Loan we have been able to bring this age old skill back into the city centre where we know there is a real demand for good quality food.
“Thanks to the loan we’ve been able to bring what was a great butcher’s shop back to life and resurrect it at the heart of the community.”
The BSF loan is part of its programme to deliver £24m of funding designed to help businesses across Greater Manchester to grow.
Paul Breen, director of BSF, said: “Steven typifies a real trend that we are seeing with start ups at the moment as more and more people decide to follow their business dream and access the support that is out there to enable them to change direction in their career completely.
“Steven knows the Northern Quarter area of Manchester well and has seen a number of artisan and specialist businesses set up and flourish here.
“The quality and diversity of his business model, coupled with the finance and the practical support that we have worked closely with him to provide, put him in a great position to start, build and grow his business over many years to come.”
