‘I took over the shop in 1978, we used to have 6 staff on a Saturday, the shop was so busy with queues out the door.  The Christmas club was really popular with local customers you could put in any amount every week and would start in the January saving for the following year.  Sometimes I would have £3,000 sitting in the club.  We had over 200 turkey orders every year, in the later years before the shop closed it went down to 80 turkeys.  This was a huge drop.  I also used to have ducks, capons and other poultry that was popular over the Christmas period. In our busy periods you never stopped from 8am-4pm you were working on the shop front or cutting up the meat in the back area.

I was brought up in West Pilton circus so have been in the area for over 60 years, it’s a great place to be the community spirit was good all the shopkeepers knew each other and had served for a long time.  We made soup every year for the pensioner’s party in The Gunner which was a great day.  I sold 100 Ibs of chopped pork a week, every kid that came in got a free slice they loved it, it became a tradition with the pork sausage and the chop pork.

In the end in the shop it was just myself and Charlie who had worked for me for 20 years.  I lost a lot of sales when the houses went, I couldn’t afford the rent in the end but I wasn’t getting enough customers.  It was my life my livelihood and I loved my trade as a family butcher, I would still be working today if the council never demolished all the houses and thought about speaking to the people on the ground about the effects this would have on a thriving and busy local community, with lots of great independent business that made it a nice place to be.’

Brian Burke, Butcher, The Pork Sausage

‘Prime Scotch’ Meat Label, Butcher’s Apron and Knife Sharpening Steel

Donated by Brian Burke, Butcher, The Pork Sausage

‘I took over the shop in 1978, we used to have 6 staff on a Saturday, the shop was so busy with queues out the door.  The Christmas club was really popular with local customers you could put in any amount every week and would start in the January saving for the following year.  Sometimes I would have £3,000 sitting in the club.  We had over 200 turkey orders every year, in the later years before the shop closed it went down to 80 turkeys.  This was a huge drop.  I also used to have ducks, capons and other poultry that was popular over the Christmas period. In our busy periods you never stopped from 8am-4pm you were working on the shop front or cutting up the meat in the back area.

I was brought up in West Pilton circus so have been in the area for over 60 years, it’s a great place to be the community spirit was good all the shopkeepers knew each other and had served for a long time.  We made soup every year for the pensioner’s party in The Gunner which was a great day.  I sold 100 Ibs of chopped pork a week, every kid that came in got a free slice they loved it, it became a tradition with the pork sausage and the chop pork.

In the end in the shop it was just myself and Charlie who had worked for me for 20 years.  I lost a lot of sales when the houses went, I couldn’t afford the rent in the end but I wasn’t getting enough customers.  It was my life my livelihood and I loved my trade as a family butcher, I would still be working today if the council never demolished all the houses and thought about speaking to the people on the ground about the effects this would have on a thriving and busy local community, with lots of great independent business that made it a nice place to be.’

Brian Burke, Butcher, The Pork Sausage

‘Prime Scotch’ Meat Label, Butcher’s Apron and Knife Sharpening Steel

Donated by Brian Burke, Butcher, The Pork Sausage

'I took over the shop in 1978, we used to have 6 staff on a Saturday, the shop was so busy with queues out the door.  The Christmas club was really popular with local customers you could put in any amount every week and would start in the January saving for the following year.  Sometimes I would have £3,000 sitting in the club.  We had over 200 turkey orders every year, in the later years before the shop closed it went down to 80 turkeys.  This was a huge drop.  I also used to have ducks, capons and other poultry that was popular over the Christmas period. In our busy periods you never stopped from 8am-4pm you were working on the shop front or cutting up the meat in the back area.

I was brought up in West Pilton circus so have been in the area for over 60 years, it’s a great place to be the community spirit was good all the shopkeepers knew each other and had served for a long time.  We made soup every year for the pensioner’s party in The Gunner which was a great day.  I sold 100 Ibs of chopped pork a week, every kid that came in got a free slice they loved it, it became a tradition with the pork sausage and the chop pork.

In the end in the shop it was just myself and Charlie who had worked for me for 20 years.  I lost a lot of sales when the houses went, I couldn’t afford the rent in the end but I wasn’t getting enough customers.  It was my life my livelihood and I loved my trade as a family butcher, I would still be working today if the council never demolished all the houses and thought about speaking to the people on the ground about the effects this would have on a thriving and busy local community, with lots of great independent business that made it a nice place to be.'

Brian Burke, Butcher, The Pork Sausage

‘Prime Scotch’ Meat Label, Butcher’s Apron and Knife Sharpening Steel

Donated by Brian Burke, Butcher, The Pork Sausage