Butcher closure

Thu 5 Oct 2006, 17:02

Can I put right a few things that have been said on this topic? Firstly, I wasn't suggesting for a moment that the Co-op were solely responsible for putting Brain's out of business: I'm sure the situation is more complicated than that. However, John himself told me that he noticed a marked slackening of trade soon after the new Co-op opened and that other Charlbury shopkeepers he had spoken to had noticed a similar downturn. A coincidence? I think not.

Secondly, to deal with one of Mark's points, Brain's do deliver as I have seen one of John's lads out and about in Charlbury several times in recent weeks delivering groceries. However, I agree with Mark that alterations in opening times would have been worth trying. The shop is always dead as the grave on Mondays and it might have been worth closing all-day Monday and staying open late on one or two weekday evenings instead to try to pick up some trade from the returning commuters (currently they all go to the Co-op to get something for their tea!). John has a family to look after though so I guess that idea would have been a non-starter.

Thirdly, Igor's contention that affluent metrosexuals are streaming out of London, taking up residence in Charlbury and then throwing their hands up in horror because John Brain's shop doesn't stock the same range of produce they are used to finding in Villandry or Fortnum and Mason is a typically bizarre one. My experience suggests exactly the opposite. With the exception of a few pensioners and any workmen who might be mending the road outside and pop into Brain's for a lunchtime pasty or sausage roll, I would say that John's clientele is largely solidly middle class. Working-class people, if they shop in Charlbury at all, seem to do so at the Co-op (or perhaps at Londis?). I know that John had a theory that when the new Co-op opened anyone living on the other side of The Slade would tend to walk down Brown's Lane to the Co-op and then find they could get all the milk, bread, fruit, veg, meat, etc. they needed without having to go any further into town. If a new butcher's is to open in Charlbury they will probably need to attract a more working-class customer base in order to survive. The alternative (and here I am in agreement with Igor) would be for a new "gourmet" butcher's to replace Brain's. One of the towns on the Cotswold Line (is it Ledbury?) has the highest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants in Britain (with the exception of London) and a number of high-class butcher's which apparently thrive in that location. Perhaps this is a way for Charlbury and its small shopkeepers to survive - to become known as a "gourmet" town with restaurants and shops catering for a more sophisticated, discerning clientele.

Finally, thanks for the steer about Slatter's Caroline! I had not heard of them before but as a fit young cyclist I may well pedal over there when Brain's closes. Also, Callow Farm Shop in Stonesfield is well within reach for those cyclists among us.