The New Ferry butcher that’s been a cut above the rest for 180 years

Few businesses can lay claim to being heart of the community more than Edge & Son in New Ferry. The butcher this year celebrates its 180th birthday, not just making them one of the oldest businesses in Wirral, but the whole of the UK.

Like many long-standing family businesses in Wirral, it has been the cornerstone of the local community for generations, providing a familiar, friendly face to Wirral’s residents and keeping them well fed too.

Callum Edge, the fifth generation to run Edge & Son, said: “After the Second World War my grandfather was in charge of rationing meat for Chester and Wirral, so it’s always been very close to our heart to feed the local community.”

Rewind to the 1840s when the world’s first postage stamp was introduced, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert and safety pins, antiseptics and rubber tyres were invented. In Wirral, a local entrepreneur by the name of John Edge, built a butcher shop on New Chester Road.

Callum said: “My great, great grandfather built the shop in 1844. At about this time he sold some grazing land to Billy Lever for only a few quid, who used it to build the village of Port Sunlight!”

Surprisingly the business, which pre-dates motor vehicles, the invention of the telephone and modern-day refrigeration methods, is strikingly similar to its 19th century incarnation.

Callum said: “We haven’t changed a lot. We’ve retained the same physical nature of the business and our principles around farming and sustainability. We’re a nose-to-tail butcher as our belief is that the whole animal should be eaten and not just the ‘choice’ cuts. As a result, we hardly have any waste. The bits we can’t use get processed to generate power.

“We sell a lot of the same things we did when the shop first opened. Bone broth, dripping and tallow are still big sellers and many regular customers include offal in their diet as it is extremely nutritional.

“But we’ve moved with the times too. My grandfather served in the Vehicle Regiment during World War I and was surprised to return home when the war ended to find out that we still delivered with horses! He introduced the business to its first vehicle.”

Edge & Son use more than 30 local farms, spread across a 25-mile radius, meaning like many local independent suppliers, their food miles are incredibly low. Not only does this mean quality fresh meat, it’s great for the environment too and just one of the many reasons the shop was voted ‘Top Retailer of the Year’ in the BBC Food and Farming Awards (‘the Oscars of the food world’ according to Jamie Oliver).

Callum said: “With Wirral being such a green area, we have fantastic local farms, our nearest of which is only two miles away. We feel a great responsibility to our local farming community and never buy factory-farmed livestock.

“We have a loyal customer base of ‘Edgetarians’, with families that have been coming to our shop for over a hundred years. It’s wonderful our name gets passed from one generation to the next. We thank them for believing in what we do.” 

There is currently a significant regeneration project well underway in New Ferry, which will see the construction of more than 70 new homes and public realm improvements in the area.

Callum said: “I’m really excited that with the regeneration of New Ferry, hopefully we’ll get more retailers, more shops and create an even stronger community.”