‘It isn’t complex – we ethically source the best product. We cut it in the best way, having spent a lot of time educating our butchers and pass it on preferably to chefs that really know what they’re doing.’ That’s how Peter Allen sums up his butchery business. It sounds easy, but there are a surprisingly large number of butchers that don’t follow this simple rule. Perhaps that’s why Aubrey Allen regularly wins all sorts of plaudits, including Butcher’s Shop of the Year in 2012 and Britain’s Best Butchers Shop 2016. It’s also probably why many of the UK’s Michelin-starred chefs choose Aubrey Allen as their meat supplier.
The business has been going since 1933, and in the 1970s had shops all across Coventry. Today, however, the setup is smaller and more focused, with a traditional butcher’s shop and delicatessen in Leamington Spa for the public, a restaurant – Oscar’s French Bistro – elsewhere in town, a little café next door for quick bites (Aubrey Allez) and the wholesale side of the business which supplies over 400 professional chefs across the UK.