A POUNDBURY butchers has enjoyed a busy start to life in the county town.

The Brace of Butchers in Queen Mother Square, which is now employing eight staff is celebrating six months in business.

Since it was opened in October last year by Lord Fellowes of West Stafford, the butchers has welcomed more than 13,000 customers through its doors.

Tom Amery, from the Brace of Butchers, said that they had been delighted with the reaction within Dorchester and from the surrounding villages as customers continue to endorse their move towards provenance, quality and service at prices that are competitive with national retailers.

With the store's two butchers boasting a combined 34 years experience, the Brace of Butchers offers a range of local products and is even the first retailer in the UK to stock fresh wasabi.

Mr Amery said the Brace of Butchers was continuing to blaze a trail and he was looking forward to continuing to grow the business.

Butcher Rob Owen, who started working in the trade when he was just 14, said he had enjoyed building a rapport with the customers and passing on his knowledge.

He said: “By far our beef has been a huge success and not surprisingly the prime cuts in particular as our ageing method produces a quality other national retailers can’t achieve.

“We have been able to be very competitive with key daily staples and that sometimes surprises customers expecting that not to be the case.”

Fellow butcher Ben Black added: “The product range is traditional so we are having to reintroduce customers to cuts that have been forgotten and part of the service is to offer cooking suggestions as the skills have been lost over the years.”

Mr Amery said the shop has been designed specially to discard some of the more traditional butchery clichés and create a light and modern experience where the product quality and customer service is paramount.

He said customers can enjoy the view through the 'theatrical viewing window' into the ageing room, where all the beef is aged for 30 to 35 days to tenderise and maximise the flavour.

Mr Amery said this is just one of the many ways Brace of Butchers is different from many retailers while it also offers a range of products not available elsewhere.

It's future plans include building on the successful partnership with local agriculture and horticulture and it has started working very closely with local traditional rural techniques including building a batch of charcoal from coppice woodland.

The business has also been pleased to support a range of community organisations and events and its butchers have been asked to judge some of the meat classes at the Dorset County Show in September.