Women in Business

How hospitality know-how helps Butcher’s Block earn community hero status

Among the few positives that have arisen from the pandemic is the rise in support for Britain’s independent - and in many cases – family businesses.

Time and again over the past 11 months they have stepped up to the plate, organising delivery services for residents who are shielding or self-isolating and providing a socially distanced shoulder to cry on. Included in this distinguished list of Bromsgrove businesses doing good is Butcher’s Block in the High Street. Owned and run by Michelle HolseySheppard and her wife Lilith, the store’s communityminded ethos is the perfect riposte to those who say: Why do you need to be open when the supermarkets are? Providing outstanding customer service is in Lilith’s DNA. Growing up in Leicestershire, she has worked in front facing businesses all her life, running event bars and a bistro before moving into marketing for a magazine publishing company. She continued to balance her time between both the marketing and butchers until being made redundant last year. “I’m just good at chatting to people,” she cheerfully admits. “Michelle started in the butchery trade 20 years ago when she was 15 so I’m a newcomer to the trade really.” What Lilith lacks in experience she more than makes up for in enthusiasm. Her homemade ready meals, which began outside the shop but moved indoors due to the pandemic, began with a simple shin of beef stew and elevated to spicy new heights with a Jamaican goat curry. The service has proved invaluable during lockdown as it means that residents, especially those who are elderly, can obtain nutritious hot meals that just need to be heated up. “It’s never been more important to eat well and stay strong,” said Lilith. “Life’s too short to eat poor quality food. Many of the dishes I produce are from cuts of meat that aren’t that well known but are just as tasty, for example, ox cheek stew or Irish stew made from neck of lamb. “Butcher’s Block has a very strong ethos in that everything is done to order. There’s no minimum spend or amount – if people want one sausage or one slice of ham, they can have it. We don’t pre-pack anything. “Also, unlike the supermarkets where 20 people may have handled a tin before you pick it up, we are the only people who handle what we sell and everything is served over the counter.”

The store’s delivery service has proved a real boon to many, not just in the Bromsgrove area as food packages have travelled across the Midlands and as far as Lilith’s 71-year-old best friend in Leicestershire. Eggs from Westonhall Farm and a selection of cheeses – including Snowdonia Black Bomber, Fowlers and a selection from Lilith’s home county – can also be added on request. Whatever the nation’s ‘new normal’ turns out to be, Bromsgrove shoppers can be sure that Butchers Block’s mission to meet their customers’ needs with a smile and providing support, socially distanced or otherwise, will remain.

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