A West Cumbrian butchers is embarking on a new chapter as its owner retires after four decades in the industry.
Workington’s Peel Family Butchers – formerly known as Marshalls – transfers between current owner Frank Peel and his brother Sam and nephew, also Sam, this week.
It’s a bittersweet moment for Frank, 53, who began his career at the Corporation Road shop with Dougie Marshall on a YTS scheme aged 16.
He bought the shop around 25 years ago.
But, he said, the time was right for him to step back. He said: “I had my second heart attack earlier this year and I just thought ‘I don’t need the stress’.
“I’m delighted that my brother and young Sam agreed to take the shop on. It’s still Peel Family Butchers, I just won’t be running it or be behind the counter.”
Sam, 52, has worked at the butchers for around 22 years, and his son, 27, first joined in 2017.
The pair are excited about taking on the firm from Frank and having worked in the shop for so long, it’s pretty much business as usual for them.
Sam senior said: “It’s a new chapter but it’ll also be the same in a lot of ways. We can’t wait though.”
It prides itself on using local suppliers. Frank said: “For example, this week our beef is from St Bees.”
Peel Family Butchers supplies around 30 local restaurants, takeaways and other food businesses as well as serving what they estimate to be thousands of customers in the shop each year.
Frank, of Distington, said: “It’s very emotional to be leaving. I’ll miss the customers the most. We have great people who come in here and have some brilliant conversations. We’ve known most of them for decades and seen their families grow up and become customers too.
“I will miss the staff who have worked really hard and I want to say thank you to them for that.”
He said he would not miss having to get into the shop at 6.30am to get ready for the 7.30am opening time after 30-plus years of early starts, but his brother chipped in: “He hasn’t had an early start for at least five years – I do them!”
What is the secret of the shop’s enduring success? Frank and the Sams are emphatic. “It’s the Cumberland sausage,” they said. “It’s the same recipe that Dougie’s dad, Wallace, used in 1945 – with a few tweaks here and there. It won’t change.”
While the Sams are looking forward to taking the reins, Frank has a packed retirement lined up, with lots of plans in the pipeline, he said.
