Food & Drink
Harri Brough, Founder and Owner of The Hidden Butcher in Botley
Published: July 13, 2023 | Updated: 12th July 2023
“It’s important that if you’re a local shop you support your community and your community supports you back.”
These are the words of Harri Brough, 27, Founder and Owner of The Hidden Butcher in Botley.
For him, it’s all about meeting people and being part of his community.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with food, I used to be a chef,” he explained.
“As a butcher, though, you get to interact with the people eating your food.
“One of the biggest losses during Covid was communication between different people. Being able to go to a local shop and having a conversation – getting the information you need alongside the necessary products – is a massive advantage over a supermarket.
“I’ve got people who come in every other day to get what they need and they’ll ask me for recipes.”
Harri has been a butcher for seven years, first doing an apprenticeship then running a shop for someone, before opening his own in December of last year.
Harri takes pride in his range of value-added products
One of the things he takes most pride in is his range of value-added products.
“I do things like hunter’s chicken and lamb pinwheels as well as tray bakes like Chicken Kievs. When you get home all you need to do is add veg and starch and bosh, you’re done – like a better ready meal.
“It’s quicker and more convenient for the customer and gives them a reason to come in.”
This kind of creative thinking and looking around for other ideas is what sets him apart from some other butchers, and contributes a lot to what he enjoys about his job.
“I have dyslexia and ADHD, so I struggle to do the same thing continuously and repeatedly, and I also have a creative mind – I enjoy doing things a bit different and having fun with products.
“I have around 47 different flavours of sausage, some of which have won awards. I’ll send my apprentice to get some coconut milk because I’ve decided to make a Thai green curry flavoured sausage.
“It’s exciting, and it gives customers the chance to try something a bit ‘out there’ and different, which keeps them coming back over and over to see what new concoction I’ve come up with.”
Harri’s connections with his local area go further than just his customers, too, as he tries to buy his products as locally as he can.
“I’m really thankful for suppliers and farmers around Hampshire. All my beef is from Hampshire, and my lamb and pork is all from either Hampshire or Sussex.
“One of the things which most annoys me about my industry is that people will sometimes use words which sound great but actually mean something different to what you’d immediately expect them to.
“Locally sourced, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean the animal is born and bred in the UK, it just means the shop has bought it from someone locally who could, in turn, have got it from anywhere.
“I think it’s really important to be open and honest with customers. If I can’t get something from the UK market I’ll call them and say: ‘the only place I can get this from is, say, France, do you still want it or would you rather wait until I can get it from the UK.
“That’s another benefit of being ingrained in your local community.”
Looking to the future, Harri hopes to extend the range of different products he sells.
“I’d love to put a kitchen in upstairs so I can start making pies and roasting joints for cold cuts. It’s also ready for a deli and cheeses.
“After that I’d like to start doing deliveries.
“I want to build my business up slowly rather than sprinting into everything and not really knowing what to do next.”
@thehiddenbutcher Harri is the master butcher of The Hidden Butcher in Botley Mills. His butchery skills are phenomenal and he’s not a bad bloke either. He loves showing off his skills! #howthesausageismade #butchershop
