Butchers and farm shops across Norfolk recently took part in a competition that saw shop windows and counters being festively decorated.
The Christmas Window Dressing Competition, organised by Norfolk Food & Drink and sponsored by H.G. Blake Limited, included two categories: The Best Shop Window, for those with a shop frontage, and The Best Counter Display, for those with only a counter frontage.
The criteria was for each shop to create a festive meat display showcasing their products and the team’s butchery skills.
The judging took place on 12th December and was headed up by Jane Blake of H.G. Blake.
H V Graves won The Best Counter Display for the second time, with its personally made red sledge which was pulled by pheasants with sausage reins. The snowmen were made out of lard and there was a robin in the Christmas tree.
Blake said: “A great deal of effort had gone into this counter display and really created a Christmas scene which the competition was looking for.”
M & D Butchers won The Best Shop Window for the second year running.
Blake commented: “There is so much to look at in this window display. A sausage snowman, a sausage meat boar’s head, elves, crackers as well as all the various meats you could ask for to put on your Christmas table. There is even the Sheringham train in the background.”
This was the second year for the competition, which ran from 8th to 10th December.
The response from last year saw butchers reporting back that the competition had brought more customers into their shops to buy their Christmas meat.
Since running the competition, organisers say many butchers have continued to devote part of their counters to a display according to the season, which has generated interest and sales.
The competition was sponsored by H.G. Blake and was launched in conjunction with the Christmas Carcass show on 2nd December.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
