PORK PIE HIGH: HISTORIC NORTH YORKSHIRE BUTCHERS OPENS NEW SHOP

Appleton's famous pork pies

We’re keeping old butchery skills alive

Appleton’s, a heritage pork butchers originally based in Ripon is opening a new shop in Wetherby.

The specialist pork butchers is opening its new branch in the Market Place on June 9 – the first time the 147-year-old business has expanded.

The new branch is testament to Appleton’s continued success, and the secret, it seems, lies inside its piecrust.

Alongside fresh hams, cured meats and sausages, Appleton’s famous pork pies – made to an ancient family recipe which gives them their unique flavour - have locals queuing around Ripon Market Square, and the business sells more than 3,500 per week.

So while the new Wetherby branch will continue to offer more of its most popular pies, it will also provide a new range of charcuterie, pork rillettes and patés, and the landmark Tudor façade of its Ripon shop, set up in 1867, will be replaced at the new shop with a Victorian -style striped awning, floor and wall tiles and brass fittings.

“There’s nowhere else in Wetherby that offers what we do,” says owner Anthony Sterne, who bought the business from a fourth generation family member four years ago. “Since the horsemeat scandal, shoppers have become more discerning and are returning to traditional, independent butchers like ours that are set apart by their properly sourced, hand crafted products and personal counter service. We’re striving to become a big part of the Wetherby community just like we are in Ripon.”

Modelled on the French-style charcutier, Appleton’s specialises in pork products such as cured whole hams, and cooked meats such as roast ham, sausage rolls, Scotch eggs and faggots. Ox tongue, for example, is still pickled, boiled and hand pressed using the methods handed down from generations of Appletons.

“We’re keeping old butchery skills alive,” adds Anthony. “And it’s simply not good enough to sell what the supermarkets do any more. We’d rather be specialists; doing the best at what we do, rather than doing a bit of everything and not doing any of it well.”

Log on to appletonsbutchers.co.uk