Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Crouch End Dixy Chicken Makes Way for Butcher Tailored for Chattering Classes
Muddy Boots founders Miranda and Roland Ballard (PIcture: Daily Telegraph)
The Daily Telegraph has reported that the founders of an independent burger maker Muddy Boots are planning to launch their own chain of butcher shops with the first opening in Crouch end in February 2014.
Their plans come in the aftermath of the couple's refusal of a mass-market partnership with Tesco.
The pair are spending £80,000 refitting the Dixy Chicken shop in Crouch End over the next six months.
With this chain of new shops, the Ballards plan to bring back the traditional high street butcher shop, with a modern twist. “There will be no hanging carcasses and blooded white,” Ms Ballard told the Telegraph. “This is a modern meat shop.
“We’ll have longer opening hours, and we’ll serve wine and charcuterie in the evenings. We’ll have a fresh lunch menu every day and our products will mostly be packaged with the use-by date and cooking instructions, rather than out in slabs of meat. We’re not actually competing with traditional butchers, we’re competing with the supermarkets”.
So, it looks like the battle of the coffee shops is going to be joined by a battle of the butchers in Crouch End.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Finsbury Park Ranger on
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Yeah - From a been-very-skint-perspective in crouch end back in the day perspective, that chicken shop was a welcome occasional naughty cheap treat oasis in a sea of over priced and over engineered stainless steel crap.
Aesthetically it deserved to go but I really feel sorry for anyone living locally on a tiny budget.
And those matching sweaters and shirts in the picture above - is that not a total couple fashion 'fail' ? Even the brand bit they're getting wrong from the off. I bet from a year of opening the prices will make you wince ( naturally they'll give a one year price grace period ) and it will eventually end up another estate agent once the audacious price point plan gets revealed.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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100% correct Sean. My last boss was (and still is) a retail venture capitalist. They mainly invest in businesses for a 5 year growth plan to sell on to megacorp , who have more money than brains, taking his (and fellow directors) tidy millions in profit (although he has stayed with Boden) . Nothing particularly wrong with that except these start-up retail businesses always target the same small number of high streets and of course the local income demographic must be ABs. It's all boringly predictable. Everyone else gets the likes of Greggs, Costa, Macs & the King ...
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Permalink Reply by 24g2s8fz5ir06 on
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oh well - just another reason not to visit Crouch End. Five or six years ago when Prospero's Books still existed, there were still good reasons to visit. Now I can't see any point. If you want middle-class pleasures, Stoke Newington does them slightly better and slightly less aggressively and it also has better pubs.
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There's no real reason not to try out this new venture, if that's what one finds necessary for a little retail therapy. And for most people at the moment a wee treat for the stomach is necessary therapy in these high utility bill times. In France this is seen as the reason for a new trend in patisseries ;
One explanation for the sudden rise of the pastry chef is as a consequence of the recession.
In these times of crisis, patisserie has become a relatively affordable luxury - compared say with going to the restaurant - says Sebastien Gaudard, one of today's up-and-coming pastry chefs BBC
The affordable (for some) food luxury, presented with a different twist, is what this Muddy Bootie thing is about.
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I was going to say how spot-on your prediction was, until I noticed the year! Hard to believe it’s been four years; at least we have to give them credit for sticking at it. It’s sad to see any business fail, but at least there are still a few butchers in CE.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon Curtis on
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"Why are they starting in one of the few areas of London that is still relatively well served by proper butchers?"
Exactly, also when they say:
"our products will mostly be packaged with the use-by date and cooking instructions, rather than out in slabs of meat."
I don't really understand what they're offering that is any different from a supermarket. (Except for the wine evenings obvs.)
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The key thing for me is that it will be open late. The two independent butchers in CE often close before 5pm, although the one in the back of Budgens is good and open later, but with a limited selection. I'd prefer a branch of Baldwins of Green Lanes but you can't have everything.
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Why are so many posts bitchy, superior and cutting.
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welcome to the internet
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People want more reality not less of it. They bummed their message. People want healthy farms, larger than life butchers with red cheeks, cutting middle men out, sawdust, innovative delivery systems, organic choices but at cheaper prices not more old money muscling cheap shops out in a slightly condescending way.
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Hi everyone, thank you so much for covering this and for the comments. We know we need to be open to the challenging ones too, thank you for these. If I can tell anyone any more about this just give me a call or email (07811948503 miranda@muddybootsfoods.co.uk). M
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