Dorset butcher’s that started as Henry VIII-era market stall is Britain’s oldest family business
Now this is a great story of the resilience of a rural business. It is also worth reminding those of a historical bent reading this story that Cardinal Wolsey was himself a butcher’s son from Ipswich!
Britain’s oldest family business has celebrated its 500th birthday – a butcher’s shop that has passed though 26 generations and survived 23 monarchs.
RJ Balson and Son started life as a market stall in Bridport, Dorset, in 1515, the year that Thomas Wolsey was made a cardinal during the reign of Henry VIII.
Since then it has survived floods, fires, plagues, two world wars, at least a dozen recessions and, more recently, fierce competition from supermarkets.