Thame butchers strike gold at Smithfield Awards

THAME butchers, Newitt and Sons came away with a golden haul from the 2017 Butchers Q Guild Smithfield Awards.

Tom Newitt (L) with Tom Parker Bowles

M Newitt & Sons Butchers in Thame High Street, won four golds for their Oxfordshire Sausage, Beef Steak Burger, Blue Cheese Steak Burger, and Home Smoked Bacon.

The Newitt family has been in Thame since 1810. In 1965 Michael and Susan Newitt bought the seventeenth century butcher’s shop on the High Street and were joined by Tom in 1990. Tom has been indoctrinated into the business from an early age. Having graduated from Smithfield College as Members of the Institute of Meat, he worked in the food industry for several years.

Michael sadly passed away in 2010, while on holiday, leaving the business to Susan and Tom to continue the passion of quality produce and excellent service. The shop has achieved numerous awards, including Britain’s Best Butcher’s Shop Award.

Open to the Q Guild’s 123 members nationwide, the 2017 Smithfield Awards attracted a record entry of almost 600 individual products, a major increase on the previous year, from 61 butcher businesses from the Scottish Highlands down to the south coast.

A total of 267 gold awards winners emerged this year across the Q Guild’s eight regions – this, too, was a new record high. Judged blind by independent panels of international food and meat industry experts, products were then shortlisted for the national final in each of the ten product categories.

Winners, including best in category diamond awards, were announced at a ceremony in Ironmongers Hall, London, when the awards were presented by acclaimed British food writer and food critic Tom Parker Bowles. (Wed, Feb 1) He told the butchers present: “A town or city without a proper butcher is town without a heart. But all of you here today are masters of meat, heroes of the haunch, legends of the lamb chop and you don’t do this for the prospect of a quick and easy buck. ”