Meat Merchant opens doors in Newcastle Upon Tyne
The best food from Northern Ireland artisan producers is now on sale in the North East of England in The Meat Merchant, a unique deli operation in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The deli, a 1,100 sq ft shop in Newcastle's Jesmond district, is the brainchild of Peter Hannan, the managing director of Hannan Meats in Northern Ireland, a specialist in quality meat, poultry and other products for foodservices. The shop features a broad range of food from smaller companies in Northern Ireland.
Hannan Meats' 'steak' was voted the Best Beef in the European Angus Cattle Society Awards earlier in the year. It has also won plaudits for its sirloin and fillet steak sourced from Hereford cattle.
Hannan Meats has invested around £270,000 in the new shop which draws on the success of the company's successful farm shop and deli, also under The Meat Merchant brand, at its factory in Moira in County Down.
The Meat Merchant in Newcastle specialises in Northern Irish meat, supplied by Hannan Meats, along with specialities from other Northern Ireland artisan producers, including bread from the Yellow Door Bakery, speciality cheese from Fivemiletown Creamery, Red Dog seasoning salts and relishes, and infused oils and reductions from En Place Foods, Hannan's award winning sister company.
Most of the artisan products on the shelves and chill cabinets of the Newcastle store have won gold stars in the UK Great Taste Awards, organised annually by the Guild of Fine Food.
Hannan Meats won gold stars for 14 of its products at this year's UK Great Taste Awards, including a three-star gold for its Moyallon smoked sweet cure bacon chops.
Shoppers in Newcastle are able to experience the premium quality, rich texture and wholesome flavour of beef, poultry and pork produced exclusively in Northern Ireland by longstanding suppliers of Hannan Meats.
"All our products are sourced directly from suppliers that we know well and have been working with over many years. Customers can, therefore, count on the provenance of all the products from Northern Ireland that are currently on sale - or soon will be - at The Meat Merchant in Newcastle, as well as in our existing deli in Northern Ireland.
"We only sell products that we can stand over and from suppliers that we know well," Mr Hannan says.
Newcastle was chosen as a location for the first shop base because Mr Hannan is involved in a long established meat wholesale business in the city called Toro Trading.
Products will be delivered directly in Hannan's own vans and the company hopes to also build up a wholesale business to retailers and restaurants in the area.
"We've been encouraged to offer our beef and other meat products in particular by many of the best known chefs from the North East of England who visited us recently in Northern Ireland and had the opportunity to sample the quality of meat that we produce from Northern Ireland suppliers," adds Mr Hannan.