Top Scottish Butchers Recognised in UK Awards

Five Scottish butcher’s shops have been revealed as finalists in the Meat Trades Journal (MTJ) Butcher’s Shop of the Year 2017 awards.

This continues a trend highlighting the innovation and skills of Scottish butchers and members of the Scotch Butchers Club, run by Quality Meat Scotland, who have featured in the awards over the past few years.

Bert Fowlie Family Butcher of Aberdeenshire is in the running for Scottish Butcher’s Shop of the Year along with S. Collins & Son of Glasgow which currently holds the 2016 title. The recently-opened Burntisland Butchers of Fife is also a finalist, in New Butchery Business of the Year category.

Hunters of Kinross have been shortlisted as finalists in the Innovation of the Year category for the work by the team there to raise over £5000 to provide community defibrillators and CPR training to 150 residents in Kinross-shire.

The businesses are among 250 Scotch Butcher Club members who are committed to sourcing top quality Scotch Beef PGI, Scotch Lamb PGI and Specially Selected Pork from approved suppliers.

QMS master butcher Stewart McClymont of from the Smiddy Butchery, Blair Drummond has also been shortlisted as a finalist in the new business category.

The annual awards, which are in their 24th year, reward excellence and innovation in butchery, farm shops, food halls and online retailers across Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Each business is judged by a panel of industry experts including butchers and consultants with decades of experience in the meat industry.

The judges will visit each shop over the coming weeks to assess the everyday operations of the business and see the business running on a normal day and how the butchers and their staff interact with their customers.

QMS Marketing Executive Graeme Sharp congratulated the five finalist businesses and their staff.

“It’s great to see members of the Scotch Butchers Club once again featuring in the awards. Each of these businesses has complete dedication to their craft and it is very rewarding to see them get the recognition they deserve. Our very best wishes go to all five Scottish finalists at this year’s awards,” said Mr Sharp.

The 2017 Butcher’s Shop of the Year Awards will take place on Monday 6th November 2017 at County Hall London.