butcher’s shop – Hinterland https://hinterland.org.uk Rural News Fri, 15 Nov 2019 06:13:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 Dorset butcher’s that started as Henry VIII-era market stall is Britain’s oldest family business https://hinterland.org.uk/dorset-butchers-that-started-as-henry-viii-era-market-stall-is-britains-oldest-family-business/ Tue, 22 Sep 2015 21:45:43 +0000 http://www.hinterland.org.uk/?p=3522 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.

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