Two Doors Down: The British Butcher Expands to Larger Premises
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
VANCOUVER - Robert Goodrick owner of the British Butcher Shoppe in North Vancouver couldn't be happier these days. He has finally moved into larger premises just two doors down from his old shop on Queensbury Avenue.
ROBERT GOODRICK owner of the British Butcher Shoppe (far right) proudly stands at the counter in his new premises at 703 Queensbury Ave. He is surrounded by his staff Paul, Gerry, Anne, Heather and Carole.
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His customers are also happy because there is more room in the new shop and it’s easier to see all the great speciality products available. It’s also going to much easier at Christmas, Robbie Burns and all the other Celtic holiday celebrations and hopefully the line-ups will be shorter....but don’t bet on it!
Robert has been in business for the past 20 years. He trained as a butcher at the Blackpool Technical College in England where he studied for three years. Afterwards he worked for two and a half years for the British public health and meat inspection agency.
After coming to Canada, he opened his first butcher shop in the Kerrisdale area of Vancouver. “I had 600 square feet and it was actually a hole in the wall,” Robert said, “then I moved to North Vancouver where I had 870 square feet. Now in my new shop, I have 1,800 square feet.
“And, we will continue doing what we do. The quality is always there and the price is always good. I know there are others trying to do what we do, but you can’t imitate something you’ve never been trained to do. Maybe they are fudging recipes and trying to pull different things out, but it will never work properly.
“For instance, I’ve had people taste my gammon ham and they can’t believe the difference from what they believed was true gammon ham. When they put my gammon ham in their mouth, they suddenly say, so that is what real gammon ham tastes like.”
Robert is always coming up with new recipes and even on holidays when he goes back to England he is always on the lookout for anything new and different. He laughed and said, “we call it research and development – stand in the pub and talk to friends, drink a few beers and talk about old times and find new contacts for different places. Right now, I’m looking into different types of pies, different recipe combinations. York bacon is one of them and Cumberland ham, the same recipe for ham that the Queen uses.”
With barbeque season in full swing, Robert said, “We’ve only just started summer and we’re already over 600 pounds of hamburger a week. We’ve just added another two lines, a steak and bacon burger and steak and cheeseburger. We actually put the cheese right into the meat so you get the flavour throughout and you don’t lose it on top.
“We also do a lamb burger, turkey burger and bratwurst burger. With all our sausages and burgers you get less than five percent fat content, we don't load it with fillers so you get solid meat.”
Drop in and say hello to Robert and the friendly staff at the British Butcher's new location at 703 Queensbury Avenue in North Vancouver. Check out Robert's new website at: www.thebritishbutchershoppe.com.
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