Britain's best butcher opens shop in Lancashire

A Lancashire-born butcher who was recently named the best in the country has expanded his business into Lancashire with the launch of a new shop.

Roast Mutton Lakeland Butcher was founded in 2021 by Robert Unwin, who trained to become an artisan butcher after being brought up on a north Lancashire smallholding where his family produced all their own meat.

His venture has won a raft of awards including being named by the Countrywide Alliance as Britain’s Best Butcher in 2023, and he has now partnered with Connor Farley to launch Roast Mutton Lancashire Butcher which will be based in Wrightington.

Connor started out as a chef, completing a catering course at a nearby college, whilst working as a full-time chef in a bistro. After four years behind the stoves at The Paddock, Connor decided to retrain as a butcher, finding a trainee role in a local farm shop, where he stayed for eight years, rising through the ranks and securing professional accredited training.

Roast Mutton will supply customers with quality locally reared heritage and rare breed grass fed beef, lamb and mutton, as well as pork, poultry and carefully selected locally sourced game. They will work exclusively with local free-range farms who share their passion and beliefs.

The pair said: "We’ve chosen to take an animal for our own nourishment, so absolutely nothing should go to waste. Ultimately the entire process should be about respect for that animal. The skill of the butcher is a determining factor in that process and Roast Mutton Lancashire Butcher is all about that.

"It’s about a meticulous approach to helping customers understand where their meat has come from, that way they can determine the quality of what they are eating, and more importantly they are also supporting local farms who in turn support their local communities."