Online Butcher - Wilsons of Crossgates

National accolade caps best year ever for Wilsons

Wilsons Butchers has been named the best butcher's shop in England.

It is one of the biggest single accolades in the history of the long-established traditional family butchers business - and caps a great year in which Wilsons has notched up other high profile award wins and successes.

Partner brothers Andrew and John Green comment: "This prestigious award really is the icing on the cake in what has been one of, if not the most memorable year ever.

"We cannot thank our customers and staff enough for making it all possible."

Wilsons Butchers was one of 20 shops from throughout the country to win through to the finals of the prestigious national Top Shop Awards, run by the Meat Trades Journal and held at the Dorchester Hotel in London.

To win it goes down as one of the business's most memorable achievements - and these have certainly been legion.

Members of the Women's Food and Farming Union judged the shops, assisted by trade experts.

Criteria included the quality and variety of meats on sale, attractiveness of displays, helpfulness and knowledge of staff, hygiene, how well the business worked with its suppliers in the food chain, and the contribution it made to its local community.

The judges said Wilsons was a superb business. They concluded: "Brothers John and Andrew Green, who have run the shop for 20 years, say the main reason customers like it is trust, its good working practices and its integrity.

"They have built a great reputation for quality pies, selling 10,000 pork pies a week. A major meat group has also used the business to develop and trial a new brand of extra mature beef called Ridings Reserve, a great example of supply-chain co-operation. The brothers gave feedback on the meat that resulted in the final specification. Today, it is a top selling product in the shop."

For judging purposes, England was split into five regions, with Wilsons beating three other North East finalists to win the regional award, before going on to land the national title.

One of the major strengths of the business has been to establish and develop successful field-to -plate partnerships with local farmers, allowing Wilsons Butchers total quality control when sourcing its meat products, coupled with full traceability.

Andrew Green explained: "More and more of our customers are wanting to know exactly where the meat they eat comes from and we are very happy to provide them with this information.

"We are over the moon to be voted the best butchers shop in England. It's very much an all-round team success."

Editor of the Meat Trades Journal Fred A'Court added: "The close working relationships that many butchers have with their local and regional food supply chain networks are an important part of the awards.

"They are extremely valuable to the economy of the region they cover.

"The Top Shop Awards continue to reflect the reason why so many people continue to shop with their local butcher and the very high quality of business skills that those in the independent sector possess."

Wilsons partners John and Andrew Green comment:

"It is a real honour in being chosen as the top butcher's shop in England.

"When we entered the latest competition, the rules required that we gave other reasons why people came to our shop, apart from quality products and customer service, which were taken as read.

"We racked our brains to think of a way to best describe why our customers like us - and decided it was because they trusted us. We are convinced this is what helped us win the title.

"We have had so many people write, phone and e-mail to congratulate us - customers and other butchers - from all four corners of the country, with many people also asking how they can get hold of out multi award-winning pies and other food products.

"In fact, this is one of the prime reasons why we have upgraded the Wilsons website - so that our growing band of customers both near and far can learn all about our business, its products and services.

"This latest Top Shop success also recognises and acknowledges the skills and commitment of our valued staff, who are proud to know that they are working in the best butcher's shop in England - and have all actually contributed personally to this overwhelming accolade.

"We could never have done it without them."

Pioneering Wilsons Butchers has launched a brand-new specialist arm of the business - "Wilsons Butchers - The Big One" - a unique range of personalised Celebration Pork Pies.

These hand-crafted and baked half a stone and more whoppers - see example above - are ideal for all special occasions.

In fact, word of the initiative is spreading near and far and Wilsons has already commissioned a number of high profile Celebration Pork Pies.

"Wilsons Butchers - The Big One," the business's brand-new range of Celebration Pork Pies, is set to take the country by storm, if early reaction is anything to go by.

The initiative by Yorkshire's pork pie kings and No 1 butchers shop in England is thought to be unique.

Personalised "Gigantic Growlers" are now available for all special occasions - weddings, birthdays, in fact any celebration where people want something that's completely different and innovative.

One of our now famous personalised pies

Wilsons launch a range of three-tier pork pie wedding cakes - and a big, big reception is anticipated for the upper crust offerings. The pie-oneering post-nuptial feast is among a brand-new line-up of celebration pork pies from Wilsons Butchers, of Crossgates, Leeds, voted the best butchers shop in England for 2005-06. Partner Andrew Green said: "Since we were chosen as Yorkshire pork pie-making champions in 2005, our pie sales have soared and we are now producing around 10,000 of them each and every week. "We are always looking to extend and improve our ranges and hit upon the novel idea of a collection of giant size celebration pork pies, which are already proving in big demand the length and breadth of the country. "The pork pie wedding cakes, hand-crafted in our own in-house bakery, come in squares of ascending sizes of either 7, 9 and 11 inches or 5, 7 and 9 inches. They can even be personalised to include names, date and a suitable message." Wilsons' "gigantic growlers" also include a 10 inch, 7lbs round celebration pie for birthdays and other special occasions, plus a traditional rectangular gala pie, again weighing in at a whopping 7lbs. The celebration pies and other award-winning products can be ordered through Wilsons' online shop at www.wilsonsbutchers.co.uk

Andrew and John Show off one of their Pork Pie Wedding Cakes!

The range incorporates:

10 inch Round

• One Size, approx 7lbs weight, ideal for parties of all kinds.
• Can be personalised with a chosen message.

Squares

• Ascending sizes of approx 5lbs, 7lbs and 9lbs.
• Available individually or as a three-tier Pork Pie Wedding Cake for wedding receptions with a real difference!
• Can again be personalised to include names, date and/or message.
• Price details available from the shop.

Traditional gala pie

• Rectangular Pork Pie ideal for slicing.
• Available with or without egg.
• Approx 7lbs weight.

Wilsons partner Andrew Green said: "Orders for our Celebration Pork Pies are already coming in thick and fast from all over the place. We even had an order for a birthday party in Worcester.

"Our reputation as pork pie makers is second to none in the industry sector and we believe we have identified a niche market with The Big One.

"We are confident there is a major opportunity to promote this specialist arm of the business locally, regionally and nationally."

As champion pie-makers, there's no doubt that Wilsons Butchers has mastered the pie-makers art. This latest initiative allows them to be even more creative.

Champions Again! Andrew Green receives the Pie Champ award!

The awards for Wilsons' Butchers just keep on rolling in.

While being voted the Top Butchers Shop in England for 2006 is obviously the icing on the cake, there have been numerous other industry-related accolades over the years, more particularly in the past year or so.

More recent meat industry "Oscars" also include:

• Supreme championship Pork Pie Appreciation Society 2005 - following this success, pork pie sales soared by a whopping 50%, and has been maintained since. Wilsons also landed yet another trophy in this year's competition.
• Thin Pork Sausage Champions and Reserve Supreme Sausage Champions, 2005 Great Yorkshire Pork Pie, Sausage and Black Pudding Competition - sausage sales increased by 30%, again demonstrating the value of a high-profile success.
• Gold for pork pies in 2006 National Pork Pie Competition, Birmingham NEC - see certificate left.

"Without doubt, it's been our best year ever - an annus magnificus," notes Wilsons partner Andrew Green.

Wilson's Butchers John, left, and Andrew Green, right, receive their Great Yorkshire championship sausage awards from Confederation of Yorkshire Butchers Council president George Haigh, and Michael Beaumont, president of the National Federation of Meat & Food Traders.

Ever keen to both develop new and cement existing "field-to-table" supplier partnerships with local meat producers, Wilsons Butchers has strengthened trading links with two well-known producers of quality free-range meats.

One of Wilsons' long-term suppliers of prime lambs has been Ilkley-based wholesale butchers Rowland Agar, a family firm with over 35 years experience.

The company recently launched a new initiative known as "Three Dales," which sources high quality meat from local family farms across Wharfedale, Airedale and Nidderdale area.

Three Dales produce is sold exclusively through independent butchers within 25 miles of Ilkley - butchers like Wilsons. It cannot be bought in a supermarket!

Partner Andrew Green says that enhancing the trading partnership with Agars is a natural progression following the setting up of the Three Dales project, particularly with new season Spring lambs now becoming more readily available.

He explains: "Customers should keep an eye open for Three Dales-ticketed products, which not only represent excellent value for money to our customers, but also peace of mind too.

"When you see the Three Dales mark, you can be assured livestock has led a healthy, happy and natural life on local farms without being forced, stressed or transported vast distances to market. We believe this is reflected in the outstanding flavour, tenderness and consistent high quality of Three Dales meat."

Wilsons is now sourcing more and more top-notch free range pork from pig farmers JH & M Burton, of Wilberfoss in the Vale of York.

The Burton family has been farming for more than a century and the business is now run by fourth generation brothers Grant and Mark Burton.

For the past decade, the farm has specialised in breeding and rearing free range pigs.

They are kept outdoors in welfare-friendly conditions and have plenty of space in which to roam about, root and wallow.

The pigs are fed on a balanced diet of high quality non-GM feed, especially designed for outdoor pig production.

Free range Yorkshire Riding Extra Mature Beef, sourced from reputable farm-based suppliers across the Yorkshire Ridings, continues to be in ever-increasing demand by appreciative Wilsons customers.