Jack Smith follows in family’s footsteps to open butcher shop in March High Street

Shoppers were queuing out the door on Saturday when a new butcher shop opened in Fenland.

Smith’s Butchers opened at 73 High Street, March, and its owners Jack Smith and his partner Nina were thrilled to see people queuing for up to an hour for meat.

Demand was so great that the shop was sold out by Sunday lunchtime so plans to be open today (Monday) and tomorrow, have had to be iced while they await a fresh batch of meat to reopen on Wednesday.

Jack, 21, who was fulfilling a lifelong ambition and a promise to his late Dad, Ian Smith, to open a butcher’s in the town, said: “We had four times the normal amount of meat we sell in a week and we were cleared out in less than two days.”

Jack was also following in the footsteps of previous generations with the shop’s opening.

The former Neale-Wade Academy student is the great son of Sidney Booth who set up a butcher’s, S Booth & Son, in the early 1920s after returning to March from fighting in the First World War.

In fact Sidney’s shop was located where Jack has now opened his own business.

Sidney passed the business on to his son Derek Booth who ran the shop from 1952 to 1998 when it finally closed when he retired. He’d been helping with the business since he was a young child.

The Booths also ran a slaughterhouse in Burrowmoor Road and used to drive animals directly from the weekly market to it.

The shop premises, which have had several incarnations since Derek’s retirement, have remained within the family.

Jack, who completed his butchery training with two local businesses, is thrilled to have finally been able to open the shop after running an online delivery business for the past year or so.

That proved there was a demand for fresh meat produced locally and delivered to people’s doors and the delivery business will continue alongside the shop.

The original plan had been for Ian to produce the meat as he was involved in livestock farming, but sadly that ambition died with him.

However, Jack is determined to stay true to the idea and says all his meat will be locally sourced and fully traceable. Jack makes all the sausages and burgers fresh on the premises to his family’s recipes.

He said: “Saturday was amazing, we opened at 8.30am and there was already a queue by 9am. Some people were having to wait up to half an hour but everyone seemed happy, and it was great to see so many come along to support us.

“Demand was so high that the shop window which was crammed full at the start of the day was stripped bare, and because we were so busy it was hard to find time to keep restocking it.

“On Sunday we opened a bit later, and thank goodness for that as it gave me time to make some more sausages and burgers. But we sold out pretty quickly and have had to stay closed today and tomorrow until we get a fresh delivery.

“We have had to make sacrifices to get the business up and running, and it was great to see the signs go up on Friday ready for Saturday’s opening. I am doing this for my family, I want it to be a legacy for my little girl Rosie, who is only seven months old.

“I have been working towards this for the past six or seven years. Dad asked me what I was going to do with my life, and when I said I wasn’t sure he suggested becoming a butcher and following in the family’s footsteps, so I am happy that I have been able to do that in his memory.”

The shop is open 3pm to 7pm during the week and from 8am to 6.30pm on Saturday and 10am to 3pm on Sunday – but for more details on this and what the shop has to offer visit Smith’s Butchers Facebook page.