Fleetwoods, Gorleston

75 High Street

Gorleston

Norfolk NR31 6RQ

Tel: 01493 662824
www.fleetwoodsbutchers.co.uk

A STORY OF PASSION AND PRIDE

 at the seaside

Mark Allen has a passion for Food.   

This is obvious from the moment you walk into his butchers shop on Gorleston High Street.  His fantastic counter beautifully presents some of the best meat that Suffolk and Norfolk has to offer including our own Scotts Field Pork. 

To persuade you of this I am going to let a picture paint a thousand words....

The pork counter at Fleetwoods

Mark was one of the first butchers to take Scotts Field Pork and I think that he will agree that when we first came across each other it was like a meeting of minds. As a stockman I spend my life working to rear as near perfect a pig as I can -  it makes every wet & cold day worthwhile when you meet someone like Mark who is just as passionate as you are about the meat that you produce.

Before I hand you over to the great man himself I must remind you that Fleetwoods Butchers are in Gorleston. Mark's business is retail only, so he is not dependent on the tourist trade that so many coastal butchers rely upon. He does however have loyal customer base of Norfolk customers some of whom travel up to 20 miles to come to his shop. Why I am I pointing this out to you? Because Mark runs a very successful business that is an integral part of  Norfolks local foodweb providing employment and ensuring that for every £1 that is spent in his shop 75p stays in the local economy.

Mark (centre) and the lads at Fleetwoods

Why did you become a butcher?

When I left school I did a two year catering course at Yarmouth College and it was after this I got a job with John Fleetwood at his shop in Gorleston. It was under John that I did my butcher training and continued to work for him until his retirement when I took the shop over from him.

What is it that sets you apart from other butchers in the area?

I think the main thing that sets us apart from a lot of butchers, not just those in the area is that I can tell you the farm that every animal in this shop came from. We source our meat from the very best farms - which is why we stock Scotts Field Pork of course! I think as well that of all our meat the pork has the most food miles which is just under 100 from field to fork.

Another thing that we are re-knowned for in the Yarmouth area is our Butchery Demonstration Evenings which are something I get a lot of pleasure from. We invite our producers to join us and a few of our customers to talk about the way that they produce their meat. I then give a butchery demonstration pointing out the different cuts and how they can be cooked and then we have a tasting session usually something that has been cooked by my son who also works with me in the shop.

Mark and Rob at October's Pork Butchery Demonstration

What are you most proud of at Fleetwoods?
At Fleetwoods we pride ourselves on our customer service.We are always happy to give our customers advice on buying different cuts of meats as well as to suggest ways of cooking the more unusual and cheaper ones. 

What is your favourite cut of Scotts Field Pork?
I like to roast a shoulder. It has a slightly sweeter taste than leg and because of the intramuscular fat very succulent. We always have a slightly fatter carcase in my shop which ensures that the meat as it cooks stays moist.
All the sausages in our shop are made from Scotts Field Pork and for a mid week meal my favourite is cracked black pepper.

Roasting joints at Fleetwoods

Who is your favourite Chef and why?  
It must be Delia Smith not only because she supports Norwich City but also because she has always supported local producers. My favourite cook book however is Flyod on Meat.

Are you a cook & do you have a favourite recipe? 

I am an amateur cook but one of the lads in the shop, Matt is a trained chef so he is always around to give me some tips. My favourite recipe is Rolled Pork Belly stuffed with fennel, wholegrain mustard, lemon & thyme

Mills & Sons, Southwold

 Mills & Sons

23 Market Place

Southwold

Tel: 01502 722104

In the first of our occasional bash at being Hello Magazine rather than pig farmers we are delighted to be interviewing George Mills (the noisier of he two Mills brothers) for our blog.

We are particularily proud to be supplying Mills & Sons as the business is being managed on a day to day basis by two young lads - George & Henry Mills . It is so refreshing to see young and enthusiastic butchers in what quite frankly is becoming an old man's business - a bit like pig farming really!

It is imperative that young men like The Mills boys succeed if High Street butchers are to survive and flourish thus ensuring an outlet for locally produced food. There are few opportunites for our young and ambitous people these days however butchery is the exception. You can start as an apprentice at 16, work hard and ten or fifteen years down the line open up your own business - we certainly cant do that in farming.

Please read the blog and next time you are in or near Southwold pop in and say hello to these fine young men.

Henry Mills

 

1.      How long as Mills & Sons been going?  

Since Oct 1, so we’ve just finished our first quarter. How time flies when making snags!

2.       So how long has there been a butchers shop on this site?

To the best of my knowledge, there has been a Butcher in the good ship No. 23, since 1837, when one James Oldring was granted permission to ‘kill and take rabbits’ from the common for sale in his shop.

Predating Mr Oldring, there seems to have been an earlier Shop and ‘the shambles’ (slaughterhouse) a few doors down, so a long old time!

3.      Why did you chose Southwold to open a shop?

Well, as a family, we’ve always relished having Southwold just a few short miles from our doorstep. Dad has known the shop through his work at Bramfield Meats for many years now, I suppose he saw potential and when the opportunity arose, we jumped at the chance. 

George Mills (right) with some of the other lads at Mills & Sons

4.      Southwold and the Suffolk East Coast is renowned for great places to eat out. Which is your favourite& why?

We’ve enjoyed so many beautiful roasts over the years, and favourites do tend to come and go with the management, but Sunday last we had an undeniably good time at The British Larder down near Woodbridge; Roast Beef, Venison loin (cooked just so), lovely French red wine and some strong upselling from the waitress.

Atmosphere, good staff, great cooking, and a drinks menu that reads like an encyclopedia - can’t go wrong really.

5.      You are a family run business what is it like working with your dad and your brother?

It’s going well so far! We like to think that our accumulated skills and experiences complement each other nicely, and there’s trust too. Also we don’t have to worry too much about upsetting each other because, by this point it’s all been done & said before hasn’t it?

6.      What is it that sets you apart from other butchers in the area?

We’re a most obliging bunch here at Mills and Sons, always happy to help, whether it be opening a door for our customers, sourcing an unusual item from our equally obliging suppliers, running to Norfolk for a Rare breed Turkey or serving that last customer desperately scratching on the window half an hour after you’ve closed, we’re not ones to say no (often).

 Additionally we have a counter chock-a-block full of the most beautifull, well sourced, well fed, well hung and smartly butchered local produce available. Including Sotherton Beef, Rackham’s Red Poll and some exceptional, prime and prettily finished Large Black pork! 

The pork counter at Mills & Sons

7.      Where do you see yourself in 10 years time

Right here, with the smell of cooking sausages wafting up the stairs, watching Southwold going about its business and telling yourselves how the last 10 years have gone.

8.      How important to you is the provenence of your meat & why?

It’s absolutely key, obviously the breeding of any given beast will predetermine quality to some degree and bad butchery could ruin decent meat, but provenance entails everything essential to good meat; the conditions the beast lives in, the soil, the diet, transportation to the abattoir and so much more is all reliant on the expertise of a good producer.

Good provenence goes hand in hand with a good attitude, from farm to fork.

9.      What is it about scotts field pork that you like

Rob’s passion, commitment and expertise for the pigs that he’s farming is paying dividends, we’re particularly keen on the generous finish, that extra few millimetres of fat (when compared to so many lean commercial pigs) gives the meat such a lovely, long sweet flavour. The best pork chops I’ve had yet, fine eating and a bit of a nostalgia shot for the pork industry.

I love the fact that it’s Rare Breed, indigenous to these parts, bred on a small scale and absolutely delicious.

 

The suppliers board

10.  What do you think about slow roasting? Do you think it is necessary?

It depends …. for beef in particular a good casserole dish can be a true companion, like having a loved one meet you in the kitchen when you come home from work but better smelling, and quieter. Beef brisket in particular.  For pork however, there’s less occasion to do so, a shoulder can cook up lovely nice and slow, belly too and I suppose pulled pork’s becoming quite fashionable and rightly so…

10. Do you have a favourite recipe that you would like to share with us?

Yes we do!

Well for today at least it’s going to be cider braised pork chop on the bone (on the bone, nice little bit of fat), fried up, with bacon-y creamed cabbage, lashings of mustard all over the shop and some of those sweet little chantenay carrots.

Ever so simple and always hits the mid week spot - two of your five a day to boot!

Proving that the pulled pork at Mills & Sons reaches parts other meats can't reach!

Great British Food Hero

In their September edition  Great British Food Magazine featured Scotts Field Pork in their occasional series on Great British Food Heroes.

'The Large Black Pig, a breed of domestic pig native to the UK, is rarer than the Siberian Tiger but Scotts Field Pork is home to nearly 60 of these precious sows. Owner Rob Simonds comes from a long line of pig producers and has made it his life's work to keep the breed alive.

"Although the pigs were incredibly popular at the beginning of the 20th century modern farming practices taken up in the 1960's led to a rapid decline in numbers. However, the Large Black Pig has an amazing gene pool and we cant afford to lose it's unique characteristics. They are very docile and brilliant mothers. In addition to this their black hair (they have pink skin) means they do not suffer from sunburn unlike most other pigs" says Rob.

"But the thing that really makes these animals so special is the pork that they produce. Once you have tasted it you suddenly remember what pork used to taste like. It is very sweet and succulent and is a completely different meat to that sold on the supermarket shelves."

" ....The reason a lot of rare breeds fell from favour is that they were too slow growing, so the resurgence of slow food in every sense of the word can only be good news."