Our Story
Here we invite you to read about how our story started, how Andrew moved his young family to Hadleigh in 1994 and with the help of a wonderfully dedicated team built Andrew’s Quality Butchers into what it is today, the go-to butcher that local residents can rely on for exceptional quality meat.
Chapter 1
Born above his father’s butcher’s shop in Dagenham you could say that Andrew was always destined to become a butcher. By the age of 16 he was working as a salesman on the famous Smithfield Meat Market each morning whilst learning the art of butchery with his father in the afternoons.
Chapter 2
In 1994 Andrew moved his young family to Hadleigh, Suffolk to open his own butcher’s shop. Setting up with just his retired father as a helping hand and a small display, his dedication to consistent quality and good service meant that he soon became the go-to butcher that local residents could rely on and trust for wonderful meat at fair prices.
Chapter 3
Andrew has an unwavering respect for high welfare and traditional farming, which has only strengthened over the years. As the business has developed Andrew’s attention has turned to locating the best meats that East Anglia has to offer. He now works closely with small, dedicated suppliers who help him to source the crème de la crème of beef, pork, lamb and poultry each season.
Chapter 4
Quality fresh meat has always been at the heart of Andrew’s, but it wouldn’t have the reputation it has today without its team of dedicated friendly butchers. Today the team is a fantastic mix of master butchers who have been working alongside Andrew for over 20 years, and fully trained junior butchers who we took on at 16 and put through apprenticeships.
Chapter 5
Andrew’s wife Claire has played a big supporting role in the office since day one, but also worked on expanding their cooked products range, with the same dedication to quality that Andrew has to his meats. Making pastry fresh daily and filling products with local fresh produce and meats, our kitchen team make an array of delicious baked goods six days a week.
Chapter 6
Andrew's two children have always joked that the shop has acted as their younger sibling. When the shop first opened, Ben and Lauren were just two and 18 months old. Today, you can often spot them lending a helping hand over Christmas and a number of the apprentices at the butchers are their close school friends. Over the years they've also caught their mother’s love of cooking: Ben is always on hand to cook Andrew his Sunday Full English Breakfast, while his BBQs have become somewhat legend to friends. Lauren loves entertaining friends too, as well as creating recipes for her food blog that focus on delicious, but more economical cuts of meat.