Letter to the editor: Hastings butcher Steve Fisher urges the community to back traditional family businesses before they disappear for good

You could hear the sound of knives being sharpened, smell the bacon curing, and know your Sunday roast was being cut by someone who cared about what they were selling.

Forty-one years later, things look very different.

Supermarkets, online shopping, and rising costs have made life tough for traditional shops like ours.

But one thing hasn’t changed — people still love good meat.

They still want to know it’s British, honestly priced, and properly prepared.

At our shop in Hughenden Road, we still do things the right way: by hand, with skill, care, and pride.

We know our customers by name, we source locally wherever we can, and we don’t believe in inflated prices or gimmicks — just honest meat, the way it should be.

But the truth is, local butchers can only survive if people keep walking through the door.

When you buy from your butcher, you’re not just buying meat — you’re keeping a trade alive, supporting British farmers, and helping keep a bit of traditional Hastings on the map.

So this is a message from me, from my family, and from every small shop still fighting to stay open:

Use it or lose it.

Because once family butchers disappear, they won’t be coming back — and something truly special will be lost with them.

Steve Fisher

P A Fisher & Son Family Butchers

Hughenden Road, Hastings