A good butchery provides so much more than just meat. It offers the highest quality product, sustainability, and a personal touch you just can’t find elsewhere.
Over the next five years, the number of butchers in the UK is expected to grow again. Unlike supermarkets, a butcher shop prioritises fresh and locally-sourced produce, meaning you can guarantee to get the very best for every meal.
Let’s take a closer look at why it’s important to pick only the very best butchers.
Why it’s important to shop at a butchery
When it comes to sourcing the finest meats for your table, it’s hard to go wrong when you choose a well-established butchery.
Whether you're searching for premium cuts, expert advice, or produce of the highest quality, a trusted butcher is essential to any well-seasoned cook.
People are on the hunt for good, premium meat. With the rise of people prioritising premium and organic meat, this has driven new trade deals for the meat industry.
We’ve listed just a few of the reasons you can benefit from shopping at a local butchery like The Gog.
Benefits of supporting a butchery
There are many benefits of supporting a butchery, including access to premium produce and expert advice.
1. Support local
If you’re in Cambridge, visiting the butchery at the Gog is an absolute must. Our butchers offer an exceptional experience for meat lovers, food enthusiasts, and home cooks alike.
Our customers love the fact that we are on hand to help answer any questions you have, whether that’s about which type of meat is best or best practices for cooking your lamb chops.
2. Fresh, high-quality meats
Butcher shops focus on freshness. This means you can ensure your produce, whether that be poultry, beef or pork, is as fresh as can be.
This is often due to the fact a butchery will source their produce from trusted farms and suppliers. At The Gog, we supply only the best from British farmers.
Our carefully selected pork is outdoor reared on high-welfare farms in Suffolk. While our expert Butchers cook and hand prepare all of the hams right here on the farm.
Another example of our premium produce is lamb. This is sourced from carefully selected farms, predominantly in Suffolk and the Yorkshire Dales.
Read more about the butchery at The Gog.
3. Expert advice
From cooking tips to choosing the perfect cut, when you visit a butchery you’ll have the opportunity to speak to experts who are on hand to help.
Butchers are highly skilled professionals with years of experience in meat preparation and cooking techniques. If you’re looking for a butcher in Cambridge, The Gog’s butchers are not just here to sell you meat. They’ll make sure you walk away with the finest option for your specific needs.
Whether you’re cooking for a dinner party or making a quick weeknight meal, our butchers will recommend the best cut for your dish. They’ll also be on hand to answer any of your questions. For example, if you’re not quite sure how much meat to buy, we’ll guide you on portion sizes to save any disappointment.
This all ensures our customers get the absolute most out of their experience when they visit us.
4. Sustainability
By shopping locally, you’re actively promoting sustainability and ethical farming practices.
Many butcheries work directly with local farmers who prioritise animal welfare. In fact, The Big British Butchers Survey 2023 found that 88% of the butchers they spoke to prioritise local produce across their business.
We’re proud to have a local supply here at The Gog. We supply produce from ethical farms such as … Each of our carefully selected farms ensure the animals are free-range, grass-fed, and demonstrate the highest standards of animal husbandry.
This means our customers can be rest assured that they’re supporting ethical food systems that respect both animals and the environment.
Another huge benefit of supporting local butchers is that you’ll be massively reducing food miles. Unlike supermarket meats that are often transported from across the country, and even worse, overseas - local butcher shops often source their produce from nearby farms. For example, we source lots of produce from our neighbouring county of Suffolk.
5. Unique cuts and specialties
When you shop at a butchery, you’ll be guaranteed to discover cuts you wouldn’t usually find in supermarkets.
Dry-aging beef is a particular passion of our head butcher, who makes sure each cut gets the optimal time needed to make it just perfect. It’s as a result of care like this that we’re seeing the likes of Picanha Steak rising in popularity, plus a resurgence in cuts such as Cote de Boeuf, Chateaubriand and Porterhouse (T-Bone).
This makes it a lovely experience and gives much more choice to those who enjoy cooking up something a little more adventurous in the kitchen.
There are so many benefits to shopping at your local butchery. By doing so, you allow yourself to open up to a wider selection of premium meats that you can really take pride in cooking. As well as the produce itself, butchers are experts in their field. So when you shop at your local butchery, you’ll know exactly what you’re buying. Plus, we’ll give you all the tips and tricks you need for cooking your meat.
From the finest cuts of steak to the most favourable lamb, make sure to check out our produce at The Gog. We’re always adding to our online shop but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, pop in and we’ll be happy to help.