Craven’s oldest Butchers
As Craven’s longest serving independent family butcher, we have a reputable heritage spanning three centuries with three branches across the region. Offering our own pies, sausages, cured and smoked meats, alongside delicious ready-to-cook meals, we are much more than a traditional small town butchers!
A Family Business
Gaining numerous local and national awards along the way, we have grown considerably since the business was established on Otley Street in Skipton in 1898 by founder Robert Drake.
Robert was soon joined by his young nephew, Jack Macefield, initially after school hours and on Saturdays before finishing his education. Jack was often late for school because he considered their customers to be his number one priority. Quite right too!
His Uncle Bob taught him how to judge the best quality cattle and sheep and young Jack soon utilised those skills at the local farms and auctions. Throughout his working life Jack maintained that the provision of best quality and customer service was the cornerstone of the business and we continue this philosophy today.
Jack died in in the early 1980s. Nearly a century after the butchers shop was founded, in 1985 Ian Thompson took over the business. He had been trained by Jack and was joined by partner, Richard Teal in 1997.
Following Ian’s retirement in 2016, Richard Teal’s sons Andrew and Steven joined the business restoring the original ‘family business’ ethos. In turn, they are joined by brothers Steven and Adam Proctor who manage our Skipton and Settle shops respectively.
Your Local Butcher
Drake & Macefield has weathered many challenges over the years including two world wars, post war rationing, ‘foot and mouth’ which seriously affected supply, recessions and vigorous competition from supermarkets which forced many butchers out of business.
Far from closing, we managed to go from strength to strength, opening our branch in Settle in 2000, another in Crosshills in 2018, along with a processing unit and a bakery producing their award-winning pies. We now employ 28 staff. As well as serving domestic customers, our commercial contracts mean our meat is enjoyed by patrons of many local hotels, pubs, restaurants and village stores, not to mention our pies feeding Leeds United fans at Elland Road.
Delivering to Your Door
COVID lockdown brought about a seismic shift in the way we serve you, our customers. Responding quickly to demand we had to very quickly find a way to fulfil 250 deliveries a day! Our first online shop had to be hastily constructed on the website to ease the administration of our new click-and-collect and home delivery service and we soon had a fleet of five vans dashing round the dales and Aire Valley, ensuring we kept people fed well during those worrying times.
Although COVID restrictions are largely forgotten, the legacy of the online delivery service is still thriving. Customer demand is paramount alongside the quality of produce we offer, so if you, the customer, enjoy the convenience of farm fresh meat delivered to your doorstep, then that’s what we’ll continue to provide. And of course we love to see you face to face in the shops when you’re out and about. We look forward to continuing to serve you and welcome any feedback.
Champion Pie Makers
Gaining numerous local and national awards along the way, we have grown considerably since the business was established on Otley Street in Skipton in 1898 by founder Robert Drake.