Shops / Hanham Common
The story behind the shop named ‘best butcher in Bristol’
A queue reaches through the shop at Hanham Common Butchers just before midday on a recent Wednesday.
“Smells nice in here today doesn’t it,” comments one customer, handing over the money for his sliced ham.
“That’ll be the faggots,” says the woman serving him, gesturing through to the next room where the faggots are being cooked to a 200-year-old recipe.
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“I’ll have half a dozen of the old English and then I’ll go over to Frank,” says the next customer, well accustomed to ordering at the busy butchers where there’s a counter for sliced meats, sausages, pies and more and another counter for cuts of meat.
The butchers on Memorial Road has been a part of the community for 18 years but is now attracting recognition far and beyond. The shop won the title of ‘Best Butchers in Bristol’ in England’s Business Awards 2023 and secured two Taste of the West Awards – gold and commended – this year for its sausages.
It was a proud moment for Dave Wilkins, who took over the butchers along with his partner just over a year ago, but he credits his predecessors, Robert Packer and Frank Kenny, who launched the business and are still very much a part of it.
Dave Wilkins of Hanham Common Butchers credits his predecessors, Robert Packer and Frank Kenny, for their award-winning sausages
Dave used to deliver meat to the butchers and when he heard Robert and Frank were planning to sell up, he saw an opportunity to take it on and retain the business as a part of the community.
“It would have been such a shame to lose it, especially for the community. So I then bought the company and kept on all of the staff. So everybody that was working here has still got their jobs. And the butchers is still going,” Dave tells Bristol24/7.
The shop owner, who grew up in Dulverton, started working in a butcher shop while he was still in school, working Saturdays for £2 per hour.
He went on to train in butchery and says he always toyed with the idea of opening his own shop.
“Then this came available and it was a very similar shop to the one where I got started, right in the community,” he says.
“It was just about having the chance to do your own stuff and your own ideas.”
The mix of new ideas and tradition are proving a winning combination for the butchers, which has a wealth of experience on its team. Jo Guest and her husband used to run Brittan’s Butchers in St Paul’s. Now part of the team at Hanham Common, Jo has brought her 200-year-old recipe for faggots along with her.
“We made around 800 last week,” says Dave, who sells hundreds of faggots every week from the Memorial Road shop.
They sell similar quantities of sausages – and usually have nine different flavours at any one time. It’s Frank and Robert who developed the butcher’s secret sausage recipe, which Dave says is all in the way they are made.
He is proud to use locally reared meat and his team make everything – from sausages and burgers to summer specials such as lamb koftas – on the premises.
Hanham Common Butchers won the title of ‘Best Butchers in Bristol’ in England’s Business Awards 2023
“We’ve tried to cater to every market, so we’re not expensive but we’d rather more people come through the door than putting the price up,” adds Dave, who lives close to the shop in Hanham Common.
“You have got to have that balance. You’ve got to have the right product at the right price. And every year is just getting busier.”
Dave and his partner are now planning to open a new cafe, Brew n Bites, on Bedminster Parade, which will be opening its doors for the first time on March 1.
All photos: Ellie Pipe
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