A Suffolk butchers had no trouble making ends meet at the close of 2021, as they celebrated a year of growth and success over the Christmas and New Year period.

Thurston Butchers, on School Road, Thurston, hit record order numbers and sales, due partly, according to Manager Alastair Angus, to concern surrounding coronavirus.

“This festive period has been the best so far. I put a lot of that down to another year of progressive increased growth and publicity, but no doubt the pandemic has helped numbers”, said Alastair.

“We noticed a lot of customers explaining that they weren’t going out to eat and were staying in, protecting themselves due to a fear of missing out from seeing friends and family at Christmas.

"This meant a busier build up to Christmas, along with larger orders for Christmas as people were enjoying larger gatherings."

The demand for orders meant that more part-time staff were brought in through December to help the workload.

Assitant manager Kerry Newton, a recent member of Team GB butchery, said: “Our workforce is fantastic; due to organisation and having everyone set in certain roles, it actually meant that we worked the fewest hours on record, despite having the busiest Christmas ever.

“No-one wants to work 20 hour days, so to get more rest meant we were all able to provide consistently good service along with our quality meat."

The busy time carried through to Thurston Butchers Cookhouse, which specialises in homemade pies, sausage rolls and scotch eggs.

Head chef of the Cookhouse, Kurtis Low, said that it had also been the busiest year on record including sales for its deluxe family Christmas pies.

Alastair says he is grateful for the support of the local community who continue to shop local and support local farmers.

He added: “The positivity we have from our customers is incredible. We know that January and February are tough months so it’s always important to have a good December to help cushion the blow.

“Our aim has always been to provide high quality meat and we won’t stop just because Christmas is over.”