Canham & Sons

I live a 2 minute walk away from Canhams — which is just terrible when it comes to trying to salvage my waistline.
The strawberry scones… THE STRAWBERRY SCONES! They are just amazing! Rich, stuffed with juicy strawberries, and thick fresh cream, they are just a delight that I cannot be without. In fact, sometimes I have to cross the road so I don’t walk past Canham’s window and end up going inside and buying one.
The sausage rolls, the pasties, the scotch eggs are all absolutely delicious. Another thing that they sell are chocolate brownies — those things are LETHAL! If you want death by chocolate, Canham’s is the place to go.
They also sell an array of sandwiches and baguettes, with various fillings such as prawn mayo, beef, sausage and cheese. Again, I can vouch that they are absolutely superb.
The staff are really friendly and helpful, and were more than happy to help me out when I had no idea what kind of cut of beef to buy!
Canham’s is always extremely busy when it gets to Christmas time — I’ve not bought any Christmas meats from there as of yet, but I know you should order well in advance!

Although this shop undoubtedly has a good array of products, I disagree with those who say they find the staff friendly and helpful. I find them to be the exact opposite, stand offish and slightly defensive. I once asked a butcher there a question about names of cuts of meat, which are different from those in the USA where I’d lived for many years. He replied with a disparaging remark as to how I would never possibly find this cut and quality in the USA. This was a ridiculously ignorant remark not to mention an alienating thing to say to a customer. I let him know that in fact my last residence in the USA had been the famous meat-​fish-​dairy-​seafood-​vegetable– and wine– producing region of California: Sonoma County. I certainly ate way better there, and for less money, than anywhere in the UK. This man obviously thought that the entire US was populated by McDonald’s-eating culinary heathens which is not only wrong but a strange point to try to make to a customer from there. Another time I ordered a «Steak and Stilton» pastie which was mostly carrots and had no discernible flavour of either Steak or stilton. It was in fact ground beef, but to me tasted like sausage. I rang them up and they talked me through their recipe and assured me it was indeed a «Steak and Stilton» — according to Canham & Sons. Other times I’ve gone in there and been ignored for very long periods of time while they chat for ages with regulars and/​or have half the staff doing non-​urgent tasks instead of helping customers. I keep giving them more chances because their stuff really is good, but I don’t seem to hit it off with the proprietors. Maybe you’ll have better luck.

Canham’s is my crack den.
When I’m out and about in central Hove, I am irresistibly drawn to this glittering palace of savoury delights. It’s basically a butchers’ shop but it is so much more. I’m addicted to their fabulous sausage rolls, their delectable scotch eggs and the impossibly wonderful Cornish pasties. I just have to pop in and get my fix.
It’s a delight to visit. The team is so friendly and knowledgeable. We dream of butchers who prepare the meat just the way you want it and they do that at Canham’s. They’ll prep your cuts of meat as you like it, score the joint so the crackling is sensational and offer advice on the best meat for the dish. I needed some beef for a casserole recently and they sorted me out, saved me money and recommended the best cuts. It’s that special treatment that keeps me coming back.
I also don’t think it’s expensive. I really don’t. The joy of a proper butcher is you just buy what you need and that saves money. As someone who often cooks for one, being able to buy one chop or three bangers is a tonic and not alas available at supermarkets so much.

This seems to be how they do butchers in Brighton, it’s a very serious business, with Canham’s you feel very confident that even if a big supermarket came knocking with a few million the Canham guys wouldn’t budge. They will be here serving you the best cuts and sourcing the best produce until the end of time. I am glad, it is assuring to know where your meat came from, who is chopping it up and to be able to ask questions if your not sure of anything. It can be a bit confusing in a butchers since most meat we buy from supermarkets is packed in a wad of plastic and labeled as something rather than what it is. For instance I once saw a pork loin in Tesco’s chopped up as thin steaks and sold for three times the price, which, if we didn’t know any different thanks to people like Canhams, they would get away with.

Over the years I’ve developed the name pre-​war Josh for a good reason. That reason is that I feel strangely more at home in places like Canhams than I do among my peers and contemporaries. Canhams is a Victorian style butcher’s shop that has been put together and run so astonishingly well that if you couldn’t hear the sound of the traffic outside you could easily believe it was 1890.
The place is perfect and in the same way that a real barber surgeon might ask you if you needed «something for the weekend» Canhams have spliced a breathtaking little bakery counter to the left of the shop opposite the butcher’s counter. I popped in today out of curiosity and to purchase one of their beautifully presented (though by no means traditionally accurate) Cornish pasties. While I was in there I noticed a tasting tray a top of the counter with what I later learned, after being totally enraptured in gastronomic ecstasy, was chocolate brownie. My god was that brownie good — perhaps a little too good. I stopped myself from buying any just because I know I would buy it all and eat it all and then find myself penniless in the gutter thirty stone overweight with no friends wracked with the guilt of a laudanum fiend who has lost his family to addiction. You get the picture. Now just go there and marvel for yourself. Be careful though!

Canham and Sons is the kind of Butcher every town should have. They serve all cuts and kinds of meat and they’ll happily process your order to any specifications. Not only are the staff great but they also serve a range of ready to eat snacks and sweets including one of the best tasting strawberry and cream scones I’ve ever had. From pork pies to sausage and mustard roles you can be guaranteed that you’ll get quality in abundance.

Top quality meat, pies and pastries. This is my favourite butchers and worth paying extra and going out of the way for. Their Christmas orders are very popular and often people will queue. I pre-​order unusual cuts from here — boned capon, goose, oxtail — for special meals and for batch cooking for the freezer. Go there early in the morning to see them making and baking traditional pies. Steaks, minced beef or lamb, pork chops, bacon and gammon are all excellent from here. Highly recommended.

This has to be one of Brighton’s best butchers. They’ll do pretty much whatever you want. For example, if you want a certain cut of meat, wrapped a particular way with it’s fat scored they’ll have it done in minutes. All the same qualities apply here as in any good-​quality butcher but it’s in the small things that Canham and Sons excel. The service is second to none and the quality of the meat is always top notch.
It my be an odd place to grab a bite to eat but, as they offer a selection of fineries including some of the best pork pies and sausage rolls I’ve tasted, it’s a great place to satisfy almost all of your meat-​based needs. The do take regular orders but I’d get yourself on the list ASAP as you may find it somewhat oversubscribed.
If high-​quality butchery is what you need, then I recommend no other place.

One of the best butchers I’ve ever been to. Everything in here is top quality, and the seriousness with which they treat their meat makes you feel like you’ve gone back in time to the 50’s and walked into some rural butcher in Norfolk.
Due to the amazing selection of meats and cheeses they have here, which is by far and above anything that Supermarkets can offer you, I think it’s worth the effort trekking from Brighton, in fact it’s worth the effort from much farther flung places than that.
No one ever did know what was in the suitcase that Vincent and Jules tried to recover in Pulp Fiction, and some people might argue otherwise, but I’ve got a feeling that it could be Canham’s own pork pies… Just speculating…

This is a beautiful family butchers– I love the tiling on the front and inside, and the old fashioned light fixtures, the stripey aprons! All the meat is ethically reared and localky sourced, the huge fresh eggs are free range and the sausage rolls and pork pies are homemade. Perfick. If we lived near here we would be in here all the time. The prices are more than a supermarket but the the meat looks so much fresher and tastier, and the whole experience is so lovely. The also have some more unusual meat like pheasant and rabbit.

I walked into this sliver of a shop and was surrounded with beautiful cuts of raw lamb and beef, a happily chugging espresso machine, crispy rolls of mustard and sausage, and the fucking baddest Clotted Cream Strawberry Scone.
I sat down on a bench in front of All Saints church with my heated mustard sausage roll, piping hot coffee, and the fucking baddest Clotted Cream Strawberry Scone.
I opened the lid of my coffee and unwrapped the mustard sausage roll encased in buttery pastry leaves. I closed my eyes and guided the sausage roll into my mouth. Church bells tolled while I rolled the balls of mustard around my tongue, the sausage melting in my mouth.
I couldn’t wait any longer, I gently laid the bitten sausage roll aside, took a sip of hot coffee to clear my mouth and turned full attention to the fucking baddest Clotted Cream Strawberry Scone. Oh Sweet Lord, lord lord, lord lord!!! A round scone appx 3″ in diameter had been delicately sliced in half. A plop of clotted cream had been slathered on one side, freshly sugared and corn starched strawberries had been put on the other side, then combined to make the baddest fucking sandwich type fucking goddamn fuck i love you thing in the world.
I carefully separated one of the halves of scone, shook loose the strawberries, slathered clotted cream, then placed strawberries on top.
I took a bite and the scone perfectly burst into crisps, my tongue swirled and spread the soul-​satisfying clotted cream against the roof of my mouth, then the tang and sweet of the strawberries puckered my salivary glands into fruition. GOD DAMN!!!
This store is tiny and fucking earnest and I love Jesus and the UK for it.

now if you want to get quality meat on your plate this is where you come. knowing where and how you meat was reared is good thing and the butchers here at Canhams will tell you of the farmers that reared your dinner. Their knowledge will help you get the best from your purchase with simple instruction for the unsure cook to new ideas for the more experienced. I mustn’t forget the pastry counter oh they make the best pies my fav. chicken and mushroom. please go and try and bag a cream scone while your there. Quality Quallty from those that know