E. Collins & Sons has traded as a butcher on Charlemont Square in Bessbrook since 1864, and remains with the same family six generations on. The Quaker-founded linen village grew up around the mill a short walk from the shop, and the butcher has served that community through the mill's rise and later closure alike. The counter sells beef, lamb, pork and poultry sourced from farms in the surrounding countryside, dressed and cut on the premises rather than delivered pre-packed, alongside home-made sausages, bacon and cooked meats made to the family's own recipes. The shop has kept to a single site rather than expanding into other towns, trading six days a week with early starts to serve trade and household customers before the working day. Longevity of this kind is unusual for an independent butcher in Northern Ireland, where a number of family shops of similar age have closed or been sold to larger operators over the past decade.
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