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THIS old farm links long-established Nantwich
butcher, Arthur Broomhall and Son in Beam Street (centre) and one of the other butchers, Clewlow's in Pepper Street.
Broomhalls closed at the
end of January 2010,
leaving just two family butchers trading in town.
Nantwich historian, Andrew
Lamberton, sprung into action when he heard the news of
the loss of a well-known Nantwich name.
He told me: "The
earliest reference I can find to Broomhall's shop is 1913 so
they could well have been going for over 100 years.
"I know Harry Clewlow
did his apprenticeship with them in the 1920s when they owned
Wallfields Farm. The farm must still have been standing when
they built Manor Road School around 1918.
"I had a look at some
old town directories and in 1890 there were 16 butchers in the
town and 31 butchers' stalls in the market.
"James Hall (writer of
the well-known History of Nantwich) refers to open butchers'
stalls on The Square in the early 1800s where Mr |
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Barrowcliffe
killed his animals on the premises!"
A further point
that Andrew shares with visitors to "A Dabber's Nantwich" is: "Castle
Street was called Pudding Lane at one time, referring to the
offal being taken from the butchers' stalls on The Square and
possibly thrown in the River Weaver if it was not edible."
The second remaining
butcher in Nantwich, after Clewlows, is Brookshaw's in
Hospital Street.
The shock news of the closure of
Broomhall's came in notices posted on the windows of the shop in
January.
The notices, signed "C.Hampton,
Proprietor" blamed
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"wholesalers selling direct and supermarket price wars" for the
demise of the firm.
Nantwich Town Councillors,
quoted in a report in The Nantwich Chronicle
on February 17, said they and traders
were concerned about the empty shops in Nantwich. Not enough car
parking for visitors to the town was cited as a reason for shops
closing.
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