Glossop abattoir to close after 100 years of business

A Derbyshire abattoir is closing after 100 years of business, causing heartache and stress for local farmers.

Mettrick’s Abattoir, in Glossop, is run by John Mettrick and his brother, Steven, the fifth generation since the business was founded. About 200 livestock farmers rely on its services.

But the brothers will turn the lights out on their business for the last time on Wednesday 31 August, blaming excessive government bureaucracy, inexperienced on-site official veterinarians (OVs), increased costs, a shortage of trained butchers and abattoir workers and low morale in the workforce since Brexit.

See also: Why local abattoirs are at risk and how farms are affected

John accused the Conservative government of “taking its eye off the ball domestically” on food production and “sacrificing small businesses” in pursuit of free-trade deals with other countries.

“The government talk about the importance of animal welfare, with short distances to slaughter, local meat, sustainably produced, but policy does not represent that,” said John, who is also legislation director of National Craft Butchers.

“Their inaction is effectively killing off the very businesses that help deliver these objectives. Livestock farmers who wish to market their own meat, rare-breed producers and other small businesses are being left high and dry as more abattoirs close.”

Small abattoirs closing

Figures from the Food Standards Agency suggest small abattoirs are closing at a rate of about 10% a year. Without action, they could die off completely.

The closure of Mettrick’s Abattoir will also cause anxiety among farmers who rely on small abattoirs in other regions, the Sustainable Food Trust (SFT) warned.

SFT policy director Richard Young said: “This is an extremely worrying development. If a state-of-the-art small abattoir like this is unable to continue in business, yet more closures will follow.

“This isn’t about money, it’s about the government being willing to set its own, risk-based rules for small abattoirs.

“Ironically, now we have left the EU, ministers are more frightened to vary from the bureaucratic letter of EU regulations than when we had a voice in Europe.

“All food, farming and rural organisations must work together to turn this situation around. It is in no one’s interest to let small abattoirs slip away like this.”

Supermarket control

Without small, local abattoirs such as Mettrick’s, it’s likely that supermarkets and other major retailers will gain almost total control of the UK meat market, which is bad news for small farms, animal welfare and consumers wishing to shop for local, high-quality, traceable meat, the SFT said.

Rare Breeds Survival Trust chief executive Christopher Price said this latest closure confirms that the government’s approach to local abattoirs is “failing badly”.

He added: “If we are going to have the sort of sustainable livestock sector the government claims to want, we need a comprehensive network of local abattoirs capable of processing small numbers of non-standard animals to the highest welfare standards. This means proportionate, targeted regulation and public investment.”

A Defra spokesman said: “We are working with both the Food Standards Agency and the Rural Payments Agency to streamline administrative burdens and our small abattoir working group is engaging with the industry to ensure we take a strategic view of the issues the sector is facing.”