Owner James Robertshaw made his annual visits to Skipton Auction Mart’s high profile Christmas prime shows and sales, first purchasing festive beef at the prime cattle highlight when he snapped up five quality entries, among them the overall reserve supreme champion, a British Blue-cross heifer home-bred in the Yorkshire Dales by Bordley beef farmer John Stephenson, along with other prize winners. 

A fortnight later, he was back at the mart for the annual Christmas lowland lambs show and sale, where his purchased the first prize pen of three Suffolk-cross lambs.

All the cattle have been fully matured in the farm shop’s in-house butchery to guarantee both taste and texture. Together with the lambs, they are now available in the shop for the Christmas trade in all the popular cuts – festive roasts, steaks, chops, shanks and more. Nothing will go to waste.

James is a multiple past buyer of Skipton supreme champions and other prize winners. In fact, he’s a familiar face at the mart on a weekly basis, sourcing top-notch primestock for his award-winning farm shop based at Keelham Hall Farm on Brighouse and Denholme Road in Thornton, Bradford.

The Robertshaw family’s roots as butchers stretch back to 1929, with the farm shop first established in 1974 on what remains a working sheep farm, which also produces its own lambs for sale in the shop. Robertshaw’s continues to prove popular among customers from a wide area, including West Yorkshire and Calderdale. 

James explained:  “Our customers fully deserve the best meat at this special time of the year and after what has been such a difficult year. However, customers should note that while the meat is exceptional we’ll still be selling it at our usual competitive shop prices. We like to call it our annual Christmas treat!”

Himself a third generation farmer and butcher, James has, though local auction marts, been buying off multiple regional farmers for many years, not only supporting local agricultural communities, but also bolstering the regional economy. He’s long recognised as a true champion and stalwart of the ‘let’s keep it local philosophy.’

He commented: “We always like to buy locally wherever and whenever possible as we can guarantee both the quality and provenance of our meat, as well as helping keep food miles to a minimum. UK livestock farmers are among the best in the world. They have been producing great food for decades, helping to establish British food and farming as the true benchmark for quality across the globe. 

“In turn, we as independent family-run butchers have responded in ever-changing times by providing food of a higher quality, meticulously sourced, prepared and served by true craftspeople well equipped to offer professional across-the-counter help and advice. In fact, it’s a long held philosophy here at Robertshaw’s Farm Shop that runs to virtually every single product we sell in the shop.”