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Budgens’ butcher Marco Amato and (inset) the cheese counter |
Deserving of ‘shelf diversity’ award
From local to international brands, Thornton’s Budgens boasts it all, writes Don Ryan
MEETING the diverse and often contradictory requirements of demanding shoppers can’t
be easy.
We want it all.
Big international brands at bargain prices, as well as iconic produce from small- scale, preferably local producers.
But Andrew Thornton, an independent retailer with a shop in Haverstock Hill, opposite Belsize Park Station, reckons he has the situation sussed.
The shelves of his exceedingly large shop (its like the Tardis, small on the outside but surprisingly large inside) are crammed with foods from dozens of independent, often family run companies.
There’s fresh fish, including substantial-looking tuna fish cakes; unusual meats; veal steaks, speciality sausages and diced venison, alongside the usual mainstream chicken pieces, pork chops and lamb. All carry a British stamp, except for the New Zealand lamb.
The shop also sells the big well-known brands, as stocked by the major supermarket chains. Many sport a discount tag, 50 per cent off, buy one get one free, etc.
Dublin born Andrew Thornton arrived in London 25 years ago and worked as a food consultant for Marks & Spencer before deciding to branch out on his own. Currently he owns a shop in Crouch End as well as the one in Haverstock Hill.
He is able to offer such a diverse range of stock thanks to his link with the Budgens chain, now owned by Irish wholesalers the Musgrave group. Once a corporatentity, the company now franchises the Budgens name to independent retailers who actually own the local business.
Musgrave supply the big brands and some links to regional food marketing bodies. The retailer uses local knowledge to broaden the range.
The result is impressive; the fresh food section at Thornton’s Budgens in Haverstock Hill, has a deli counter and several cheese stands, as well as hand-made soups and deserts. On display are loads of fresh fruits and vegetables, several containers proffer various sorts of loose marinated olives as well as baskets of many different breads from the bakery.
There’s also pita and other speciality items from the likes of Michael’s Bakery, a family owned business based in Tottenham.
Complementing the fresh food section is a huge assortment of tins and packets as well a fine range of teas and coffees, encompassing all the major brands and Budgens’ own label varieties, alongside Jacksons of Piccadilly and other highly regarded specialists.
A company called Teapigs, based in Ealing, claim to use only the whole leaf, not the dust found in regular tea bags. Pour on water and watch the leafs unfold, they advise. But I think they get a little carried away with themselves, describing their tea bags as tea temples and when I realised I’d paid £3.49 for 15 of their English Breakfast teabags, I nearly needed an ambulance to carry me away.
Better priced and even more local are Hampstead Teas, whose box of 25 green tea bags are a comparatively reasonable £1.89.
Another local firm with space on the Budgens shelves is Italian deli foods specialist, Carnevale founded in the 1960s and based in Blundell Street, off Holloway Road.
The shop has several large freezers crammed with an extensive range of “Cook”, ready meals and deserts made from the type of Ingredients granny would have used and prepared in the style of a restaurant kitchen by cooks in torques and chef’s overalls.
If the council gave an award for diversity on the shelves, the shop would be a strong contender for the title. Kosher stacked next to Halal, alongside genuine Caribbean, Irish, Polish, Brazilian and Portuguese foods are just some of the ethnic produces on display.
Coming soon is a local website, mirroring the excellent one created by
the couple who run the Sawbridgeworth branch of Budgens.
There is the possibility to click through links, and comprehensive information on the store’s suppliers and their produce, enabling links and understanding between those who grow and produce food, the retailer and the customers. |
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