Our local butcher has been driven out of business

[eledonecirrhosa]

 My local butcher is closing down this week. He says meat prices are so high, his customers can't afford to pay what he'd need to charge to stay in profit. Beef has risen in price 3 times recently. Even traditionally cheap cuts like ox tails are now ridiculously expensive. Once he ordered beef on a Monday and by the time they delivered it on Thursday and invoiced, it cost him £200 more than Monday's quoted price. Last week he sold £1200 worth of meat, and made £146. That's not enough for him to cover the shop's expenses, let alone pay himself a wage. He says one of the local 'mini-marts' which sells meat (including halal) told him they are in the same situation.

 

If he buys chicken wholesale, it costs him £2.18 a kilo. The supermarkets sell that same chicken for £2.16 a kilo, because they make profit elsewhere and take the hit on the meat. 

 

He says the wholesalers are telling everyone the rise in National Insurance contributions and National Living Wage is what is pushing up their overheads. 

 

I guess eating less meat will be good for me. But I also used to get fishcakes, macaroni bakes and hash browns from my butcher. 

 

The butcher has a side-line in selling second-hand goods. So he'll expand that business after the butcher's shop is closed. I hope that works out for him.

Comments

[watervole]

Eating less beef is also good for the planet... Beef and lamb are both very high hitters - far more so that most people realise.

Most environmentally friendly fish is tinned sardines.

I hope your butcher succeeds with his second-hand trade.

[eledonecirrhosa]

Yes, I guess if what happens is the butcher closes and everyone locally eats less beef/lamb, then it is better for the planet. But I suspect what'll happen is instead of walking to the butcher, they'll drive to the supermarket for their meat. Or order online and have a bike/van deliver it. Which is not better for the planet at all.

I eat a lot of tinned pilchards. Must investigate their environmentally friendliness...

[watervole]

Small tinned fish, are the most environmentally friendly form of fish.

Tinned fish keep well, so don't go out of date. There is less waste before the consumer as they are tinned very quickly.

Small fish at the bottom of the food chain are the best ones to eat because of the tropic levels.

I eat sardines as a rule, but I would expect pilchards to be good too. Sardines, being smaller, may have the edge.

[eledonecirrhosa]

Just looked them up on the Marine Conservation Society "good fish guide".
My pilchards were rated good (caught in NE Atlantic waters).
And the tinned red salmon was also rated good.

The tinned mackerel not so much...

[watervole]

That's good to know. Shame mackerel is less good.