Clinton Roberts who owns Ponty Butchers in Pontardawe won the Welsh Pork Butcher competition this week after the contest took place at Royal Welsh Winter Fair in Builth Wells.
Roberts was up against former Welsh Young Butcher champions Peter Rushforth from Mold and Tomos Hopkin from Swansea, who came second and third respectively.
Fourth in the competition, which was open to butchers of all ages, was Dave Lang from Newbridge-on-Wye.
Run by the Cambrian Training Company and the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, the final gave the four butchers two hours to present a creative display from half a Welsh pig, using either modern or traditional methods to best promote Welsh Pork to consumers. Roberts received £130 and the joint runners up shared £70.
Roberts, who won a series of competitions in the 1990s, said: “It was good to compete against the top young butchers to show that the old dog still has it. I think it’s fantastic that Cambrian Training Company is nurturing young butchers because there is such a lack of interest in the trade.”
Chris Jones, who judged the contest with Steve Morgans from Morgans Butchers, Brecon, said: “It was a really good competition and nice to see young and experienced butchers competing against each other. There was very little to choose between the top three.”
In the Welsh Young Butcher competition taking place on the same day, Peter Rushforth went on to be crowned champion, while Tomos Hopkin came second.
The young butchers were challenged to produce a display of meat in two hours from a whole top rump of Welsh Beef, a leg of PGI Welsh Lamb, half a shoulder of Welsh Pork and a whole Cefn Llan Welsh chicken.
Rushforth commented: “Coming into the final as the defending champion, I had everything to lose and the pressure was on,” he said. “I was pleased with my display but I think the standard has gone up dramatically this year.”
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.
