Best in the business!

Congratulations to Scotland’s top two butcher shops!

Two of our members have been judged the Best Butchery Businesses in Scotland – large and small business category – in the British Butchery Awards 2025 and Scottish Craft Butchers are delighted to add their congratulations to both.

Marshall’s Farm Shop in Kintore lifts the large business award while Puddledub Butchers in Kirkcaldy secures the honours in the small business category.

The awards – staged by National Craft Butchers and sponsored by Dalziel – celebrate the finest butchery businesses throughout the UK, recognising craftsmanship, skill and dedication to the trade.

Honours were presented at a sell-out gala dinner in the Belfry Hotel, Nottingham, hosted by English rugby international Phil Vickery.

 

Scottish Craft Butchers executive manager Gordon King said the results were particularly pleasing as both retail businesses are relatively young.

“Both have been on a steep learning curve,” he said. “They’ve created award-winning butcheries which have been recognised for their exceptional high standards in terms of quality products, environmental impact, customer service, customer experience, skills, knowledge and surroundings.

“These awards are the only ones backed by the industry itself, with secret shoppers visiting everyone shortlisted to gain first-hand knowledge and experience of the shops involved.

“Ultimately, it is two family farming businesses who have launched retail units to showcase their meat products that have gone on to award-winning success.

“Both Marshall’s and Puddledub have gone toe-to-toe with the best in Scotland – some well-established big hitters among them – and come out victorious. I’m over the moon for them.”

Gordon said that both winners have been prepared to take their business and next generation of their families to new and exciting dimensions – with outstanding success.

“They are people with drive and determination who invest in their business and take them forward to a level where they can be counted among the best in the whole of the UK.”

 

A thrilled Shona Marshall expressed her family’s delight at beating off some of Scotland’s best-known butchers to lift the award.

“We can’t believe it,” she said. “The butchery side of our business has only been going for less than four years and we were pitted against some of the biggest and most established players in the industry. We’re absolutely thrilled – it’s a huge achievement.”

Marshall’s believe they offer a unique shopping experience with all the beef, pork and lamb sold through their counters being sourced from their own family farm – just minutes from the shop.

Shona’s parents Moira and Kenny Marshall and their family have turned around a traditional dairy farming business into a thriving retail enterprise with the Kintore farm shop quickly becoming a popular destination attraction for locals and visitors alike.

“We only opened in 2021,” said Shona, “and to be judged the Best Large Butchery Business in Scotland is just amazing. It’s testament to the hard work of the whole family and our 100-strong workforce.”

Shona runs the butchery side of the business after studying the trade in order to work alongside Marshalls’ three other butchers.

“I am one of the third generation of farmers in the family and a first-generation butcher,” she said, “although my great grandfather was also a butcher, so I’ve brought things full circle.

“This is the first awards we have entered for the butchery aspect of the business and to win the Scottish title is absolutely brilliant.”

Plans are in hand to expand the butchery counter at Marshall’s Farm Shop, providing a viewing gallery for the public to see the butchers at work.

“This is all done behind closed doors at the moment,” explained Shona, “but we want to bring it forward so that the customers can appreciate the field to fork story better.”

Shona likes to think the product quality, minimal food miles and full traceability of the meat at Marshall’s – as well as the overall customer care and experience – were instrumental in securing them their award.

“These things are so important to us as a family and instilled in everything we do at both our farm and the shop.”

Shona explained that the butchery counter acts as the showcase for the farm with meat from their herd of prime Aberdeen Angus cattle, outdoor bred pigs, and flock of sheep.

“We have complete control over what we can provide in our counter which allows us to maintain our strict attention to quality,” she said. “We dry age our beef for a minimum of 28 days, to really ensure the meat is at its best. We make all our own burgers and sausages, which are not only for sale in the shop but also used in the restaurant and drive-through.

“There’s also a wide range of our own delicatessen products including pies, sausage rolls and scotch eggs and our butchery team is constantly trying new things and introducing new ideas to keep the counter fresh with different flavours and recipes.”

 

Over in Fife, the results of the awards were met with equal delight by the Mitchell family, owners of Puddledub Butchers, where a similar farm and shop tandem operation secured them the Best Small Butchery Business in Scotland title.

“We’re genuinely thrilled,” said director Pete Mitchell. “We’re really confident that our hard work, passion and commitment to quality of product and service is the very best it can be, but to have that recognised by the judges is just fantastic.

“This award is a real feather in our cap – acknowledgement for the hard work of the whole team at the farm for the past 26 years and at the shop in Kirkcaldy for the past five.

“It’s a tremendous honour to be judged the best small butchery business in the whole of the country and we’re all really proud of such an amazing achievement. It’s terrific.”

The Mitchell family has farmed Clentrie Farm at Auchtertool for generations and since 1999 have built a reputation as one of the country’s top bacon and pork producers.

“Having a home farm shop was not viable, however, as Clentrie is quite remote,” explained Pete, “so branching out into a retail operation in Kirkcaldy High Street provided us with the perfect showcase for our products and those of like-minded family farms throughout the area.

“We only stock our own meat products – including our acclaimed smoked range – and meats, eggs, fruit and vegetables from other family farms with high animal welfare and environmental standards and quality values.”

The result is a highly successful and popular traditional butcher shop where food miles are kept to a minimum and quality and customer service are of prime importance.

“I like to think the judges recognised the passion and commitment from the whole team that goes into everything we do at Puddledub,” said Pete.

The family singled out shop manager, butcher George Ionout, for praise, detailing his passion and tireless dedication to the business – including his training and mentoring of younger members of staff.

“George and others have embraced the Mitchell family values and helped ensure that Puddledub is worthy of being crowned the best in the business,” said Pete. “We have a terrific team here focussed on being the very best they can be, and I’m thrilled for them all that their passion for – and commitment to – the business has been recognised at national level.

“At a time when the industry is going through a lot of change, Puddledub has been steadfast in sustaining our traditional skills and values that helped built our reputation for outstanding products. Those values which made the pork farm so successful are now transferred to our retail butchery and the result is this award.”