Young Butcher proves Britain's got talent

THE 2009 winner of the BBC’s first ever Young Butcher of the Year, very nearly didn’t enter the competition.

When the entry form arrived through the post, Jim Sutcliffe put it in the bin.

It was only after a follow-up telephone call from the organisers and the offer to send another form that the 24-year-old reconsidered.

Several months later, and much to his surprise, Jim was crowned Young Butcher of the Year.

“I very nearly didn’t enter, thinking I had no chance,” he says.

Out of 500 entrants, 100 were selected to go to Manchester for the first audition.

“When I got there I nearly walked out again. Listening to the other lads talking, it was obvious they had mainly worked for supermarkets and seemed very different to me.”

The first stage was an interview with an industry expert and, in Jim’s case, it was with David Lishman, a well-known butcher from Ilkley.

“He was already one of my heroes, somebody I aspired to be like, so I was a bit starstuck and the interview passed in a blur. I couldn’t remember anything about it afterwards.”

A few weeks later, Jim was one of 25 young butchers invited to Smithfield to demonstrate his practical skills.

At the next stage five were selected to go to Woodbridge, Suffolk, to an old aircraft hangar, where filming of the final took place. After more challenges Jim found himself going head-to-head with one other contestant for the title.

“It was getting very stressful by this point,” he recalls. “The final test was to set up a shop window. When we had finished I didn’t think mine looked as good as the other one, but the judges decided I had used more skill and imagination and chose me as their winner.”

Pole position

To find himself in this position came as something of a surprise to Jim, who though now passionately committed to butchering as a career, had not always thought that way.

His parents, Charles and Debbie, breed Longhorn cattle at Tetford, Lincolnshire, enjoying tremendous success in the show ring and selling a large proportion of their stock for breeding. Any surplus is sold as beef, initially as freezer packs, then from a mobile refrigerated unit, which was used to visit shows and other events and act as a retail outlet on the farm in between times.

Trading as Meridian Meats – the Meridian line runs through the farm, which has always been able to sell all the beef it produces, with demand sometimes exceeding supply.

Although he enjoyed country life and helping with the cattle, Jim had never been involved with the retail side.

After leaving school he went to work on a local arable farm, while undertaking an agricultural apprenticeship – on day release, at Riseholme College – admitting his main interest was tractors.

Then, out of the blue, he decided he wanted to be a butcher.

“It suddenly struck me that I knew very little about the cattle at home and what happened to them after they left the farm. Suddenly, I wanted to know more.

“I gave in my notice, without telling my parents and with no job to go to, as I thought they may try to talk me out of it.

This was January 2005 and Jim sent letters to a number of butchers in Lincolnshire, but only received two replies, before securing an interview with Eric Phipps, former winner of Britain’s Best Butcher award, who offered him a job.

“Although I knew Eric was due to retire in the near future, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him and was determined to learn as much as possible in the time available.

“The shop had an abattoir attached and I worked in all sectors of the business.

“Eric was very much a skilled traditional butcher and was happy to teach me everything he knew.

“So many butchering jobs now are in processing plants where you just do one job and don’t learn the full range of skills, but that wasn’t for me. I wanted to be able to do everything.”

On Eric’s retirement the business was sold, resulting in a change of regime and Jim moved on to Wisby’s of Horncastle.

Although initially happy with the job, he eventually become disillusioned, missing Eric’s specialist input and decided to return to the family farm. But it was still some time before he got involved with the butchering side of the business.

Interest rekindled

When he did, it rekindled his interest and following a failed planning application to open a shop on the farm, the family decided to take a unit on an industrial estate in Horncastle, and Jim began to butcher all the home-produced beef.

“By this time, I was really enjoying butchering again and having my own facilities, but it was a bit like working in a shoe box.”

It proved not to be for long as in the autumn of 2007 they heard of the imminent retirement of a butcher in Louth.

“We had just invested a lot of money in the unit so weren’t really looking to move so soon, but it was an opportunity we couldn’t ignore,” says Charles.

A deal was secured to take on the shop in Eastgate, Louth, and they were open for business in February 2008.

The move was hard work, and the venture began with just Jim and his mother and a lot of improvements to be made to the premises, but business was good from the start.

They were soon able to source some good staff, and Eric Phipps also came to help the family out one day a week.

The shop specialises in traditional and rare breed meats, all of which are sourced either from local farms or through Louth market, and slaughtered at Brown’s of Lincoln, or Wright’s of Boston.

All the Longhorn beef and some of the rare breed lamb comes from the family farm and all meat is traceable back to its farm of origin.

Soon after opening, the shop was awarded membership of the Guild of Q Butchers, one of only two in Lincolnshire.

“It was a really tough inspection and I thought it might be a bit too soon for us, but I think they realised what we were aspiring to and just how high we are aiming,” says Jim.

This was followed, earlier this year, by another award which has resulted in a massive increase in sales.

Panel of judges

The Sutcliffes were asked to provide a Longhorn fillet and sirloin on the bone, to be cooked for a panel of judges, for the Country Life magazine’s Britain’s Best Steak competition, but it wasn’t until they read the magazine, they realised they had won.

“It was a comparison between 11 native breeds, so it wasn’t just a success for us, but for the Longhorn breed as a whole,” says Charles.

The win prompted much publicity, both in local papers and on television, which saw a 400 per cent rise in sales of Longhorn sirloin steak, with customers traveling from as far away as Manchester and Sheffield to try it.

This latest triumph looks set to increase sales still further, and Jim has plenty of plans for improvement and expansion and says he would love to take on a young butcher to train up.

“There doesn’t seem to be much interest among young people to get involved in butchering, but I think it is such an interesting job and you get out of it what you put it.

“If it wasn’t for paying the bills I would do it for nothing – it is so rewarding when someone comes into the shop and says the Sunday joint they bought was the best they have ever had.”

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