Founded 1515 by Robert Balson, who rented a stall on Bridport Shambles six years into the reign of Henry VIII. 511 years later the shop is still run by the same family, now Richard Balson, 25th-generation Master Butcher, at 9 West Allington in Bridport, alongside his brother-in-law Rudi Boulay and Adam Gardner. Free-range Dorset meat, dry-cured bacon, twenty house sausages, game in season. Britain's oldest continuously trading family business.
Free-range beef, lamb, pork and poultry sourced within thirty miles of the shop. Hung on the bone. Cut to order. The bench is the bench Donald cut on, and his father before him. Bring a recipe in and the cut comes off the carcass to match it.
Cumberland, Lincolnshire, pork and apple, pork and leek, Dorset Knob, beef and ale, lamb and rosemary, chorizo-style, merguez-style, breakfast, herb, plain. Made on site every week. The AHDB Service to Sausage Award sits on the shelf above the counter.
Cured in-house with the Balson salt-and-sugar rub. No phosphates, no water, no shortcuts. Sliced from the side as you order it, thick or thin. The cure recipe has been written on the back of the kitchen door since Donald’s time.
Pheasant, partridge, wood pigeon, venison, rabbit in season. Half a pig, a whole lamb, freezer packs, hog roasts and the kind of cut a supermarket plastic tray cannot hold. Ring the shop on 01308 422638 for game and for whole-carcass orders.
The shop began in 1515, six years into the reign of Henry VIII, when Robert Balson rented a stall on Bridport Shambles, the old market street. Robert sold meat. His sons sold meat. His grandsons sold meat. The shop never closed. In 1892, after 377 years on the Shambles, the family moved the business a few hundred yards west to a permanent shopfront at 9 West Allington. The bench, the hooks and the sharpening stones moved with them.
In the 1960s, Donald Balson, the 24th generation, took the bench. Donald trained his son Richard, and later his son-in-law Rudi Boulay. Richard is the current Master Butcher. He stands next to Rudi and to Adam Gardner at a counter that has been in the Balson family for five hundred and eleven years. The Institute for Family Business lists Balsons as the oldest continuously trading family business in the United Kingdom. The BBC filmed inside the shop in 2014. ABC News came for the 500th anniversary in 2015. The shop is open Tuesday to Saturday.
“It began in 1515. Just six years into the reign of Henry VIII. Since then, dozens of family members have passed their butchery skills down through twenty-five generations.” From the company history
The fastest answer is the phone, 01308 422638, Tuesday to Saturday 07:00 to 15:00. For whole-carcass orders, freezer packs, hog roasts and game, a phone call works better than a form. For everything else, the form goes to Richard's inbox at richard@rjbalson.co.uk. We reply the next opening day. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
9 West Allington
Bridport, Dorset DT6 5BJ
Phone · 01308 422638
Email · richard@rjbalson.co.uk
Walk · West Allington runs west from East Street, past the Saturday Charter Market. We sit opposite The Royal Oak. The shop has been at number nine since 1892, having moved the few hundred yards from Bridport Shambles where Robert Balson rented the first stall in 1515.
Closed Sundays and Mondays. Carcasses come in Tuesday morning, the bench is sharpened Monday night.
Yes. A crown of pork, a rolled lamb shoulder, a beef rib on the bone, French-trimmed cutlets, butterflied leg of lamb. Bring the recipe and we cut it off the carcass to match. The cuts come off the bench, not out of a vacuum pack. Ring ahead on 01308 422638 for anything that takes more than ten minutes of bench time, otherwise walk in any opening hour.
Yes. Half a pig, a whole lamb, a quarter of beef, freezer packs cut and bagged to a list you bring or one we suggest. Hog roasts arranged with three days’ notice. Ring the shop on 01308 422638 and Stephanie or Richard will take the order over the counter or over the phone.
Within thirty miles of the shop. Beef, lamb, pork and poultry from West Dorset farms. Game from Dorset shoots and West Country estates in season. The names of the farms are on a card on the wall behind the counter. Ask any of us at the bench.
Yes. The cure is a salt-and-sugar rub mixed in the back kitchen on a Monday. The bacon and gammon sit in the cure for ten to fourteen days depending on the cut. No water injected, no phosphates added, no shortcuts. When you slice a rasher in a pan, it browns. It does not bleed.
Yes. Same family. Same shop at 9 West Allington since 1892. Same butchery business on Bridport Shambles since 1515. Robert Balson rented the first stall in the sixth year of Henry VIII. Twenty-five generations of Balsons have stood at the bench since. The hooks above the bench have been polished by the same hands, generation after generation.