Aberdeenshire Butcher Celebrates 65th Anniversary

An award-winning, family-run Aberdeenshire butchers, known for its wide range of quality local produce, has celebrated its 65th anniversary.

Bert Fowlies Butchers in Strichen, Fraserburgh, celebrated the occasion today (23 September 2020) with customers being entered into a prize draw to win two £65 gift vouchers.

Owners Hebbie Fowlie, his wife Eileen, son Gavin and daughter Donna also decorated the shop with posters, balloons and old photos, providing a bit of light relief for customers in these difficult times.

The business, which is a member of Quality Meat Scotland’s Scotch Butcher’s Club, was established in 1955 by Bert Fowlie Senior with his son, Hebbie, joining the family business in 1972, after having left school at the age of 16.

Ten years later, Bert decided to retire and Hebbie took over the running of the business with Eileen. Donna joined them in 2007 after leaving the oil and gas industry after 13 years, and in 2012 Gavin left his career in joinery to start within the company.

In 2018, Hebbie and Eileen’s grandson, Aaron, started working on a Saturday learning the basic skills of butchery, making Bert Fowlie Butcher's a fourth-generation family business which, in addition to the shop, supplies over 52 retail stores and over 24 fishing boats.

The business, which has won the prestigious accolade of Scottish Butcher Shop of the Year three years in a row, prides itself on its locally sourced, diverse offering from Specially Selected Pork sausages to Scotch Lamb PGI roasts.

Their beef, which is all top-quality, farm-assured Scotch Beef PGI, comes from cattle reared by a local farmer and is also provided by three top Scottish processors - Scotbeef (Inverurie), Munro’s Dingwall and Broxburn-based processor AK Stoddarts. This allows the family to sell meat which has been matured for a minimum of 21 days, giving it the tenderness their customers are looking for.

Speaking at the anniversary celebrations, owner Hebbie Fowlie said his secret to success over the years was running a very upbeat, modern butcher shop which still covers all aspects of the traditional cuts of meats but also provides new, innovative products. He added the key to attracting customers was to make their counter as bright and colourful as possible.

“Our continuous changes to the counter display never fail to impress our customers and if they have any specific requirements, we will make the products as they wait - nothing is ever a problem,” said Mr Fowlie.

“Our butchers love to throw a twist on the products we create. They work together as a great team creating new, fresh ideas to keep our customers interested when they visit the shop.

“All of our staff are great assets to the team here at Bert Fowlie’s and we take huge pride in being an ‘end destination shop’, where people travel from cities and towns just to see what we have in store for them,” he added.

Gordon Newlands, Brands Development Manager with Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) congratulated the family on reaching such a fantastic milestone.

“Butchers play a huge part in communities throughout Scotland and the way Bert Fowlie Butchers has evolved their business to combine the best of innovation and tradition deserves huge recognition.

“Fantastic successes like the Fowlie’s business also encourage young people to learn more about butchery and think about it as a future career which has longevity.

“I’d like to wish the family good luck for many more successful years in business.”