Robinson’s Family Butchers

Friendly service and good quality meat. The staff will always put a smile in your face, they will go out of the way to make the meat you buy just the way you want it to save time and effort and they know what they are talking about. Need any advise, just ask and you will struggle to mess it up at home…

Cheap (ish) but not very cheerful
My first visit to Robinson’s came after moving to the area when I was looking for a local supplier of free range, good quality pork. Unfortunately Robinson’s only stock poor quality intensively reared pork. While this alone was enough to put me off Robinsons, I was extremely disappointed that the butcher who served me had to ask two other members of staff to find out if the meat was free-​range or not, showing a pretty hefty disinterest in the products they sell.
Last week I decided to give Robinson’s another chance and went to buy a chicken. The pricing was reasonable for an independent butcher, although much dearer than a supermarket, but after jointing and cooking the bird, I found it was scrawny, stringy and flavourless.
From what I’ve seen Robinson’s makes its living through selling packs of cheap meat to students in the summer and has little else going for it.
I hugely prefer Axon’s in nearby Didsbury which sells some of the best meat I’ve ever tasted. Yes it’s a lot more expensive and you could easily pay twice what you would in Robinson’s but the difference in flavour is immense.

As a student it’s definitely worth getting into the habit of going to butchers rather than supermarkets, because the price differences are massively different. As specialists butchers can charge a fraction of the supermarket prices, and the portions are usually bigger as well. Plus you are not limited to the pre-​packed sizes on the aisles. Oh, and the quality is usually better. Of course, all that begs the question of why most students buy from the supermarkets, and the answer is probably convenience, and the idea that buying from butchers is wonderfully quaint and harkens back to the 1950’s. The sooner we break that habit the better.
Robinson’s is a good quality butcher in Withington serving the local citizens, and does so reasonably well. I’ve never encountered rotting meat unlike poor Becca, so I can only hope that was a bizarre one-​off. I’ve found better butchers in Rusholme, so I can’t say it’s fantastic, but if you live in Withington then you can’t go too wrong.

During my time in Withington, I found I was relying too heavily on the meat aisle in Somerfield, and decided to support my local businesses by going local for my groceries. As I walked past Robinson’s every day, it was quite exciting, I thought, to buy fresh meat every day, probably farmed locally. Ooh, I thought, I’m so good and nice and kind to the earth. Or something.
Anyway, my experience at Robinson’s was not the feelgood bacon-​buying trip I imagined. First off, the shop positively reeks of bleach, which worries me as the meat is largely uncovered in the big fridges, and I fear fumes. Secondly, the self-​serve fridge near the door is full of shrink-​wrapped bacon and whathaveyou, which all looks a bit anaemic and sub-​Somerfield in quality. The final nail in the coffin, however, has to be the chicken I bought there once. Upon getting it home and unwrapping it, I was overpowered with the stench of positively rotten meat. As I held my nose and suppressed the vom reflex, I saw that the meat had a greenish tinge. GROSS! I am absolutely 100% certain that the butcher *must* have known this meat was off. How could he *not*? The stuff stank!!!
Obviously, I never returned (and I also couldn’t bring myself to eat chicken for a month afterwards). There are many things I forgive in this world, but selling putrid chicken, I will not forgive!

One of two family run butchers in Withington, and in my opinion the worse of the two, but still very good quality.
The two butchers in Withington sell meat so much cheaper than do the local supermarkets, and so much higher quality as well.
What this does have over the other butcher, is a better selection of cold meats. Great hams, some good salamis and other cold meats are often on a deal. They do a good barbeque selection as well. As none of the stuff is pre-​packed, you can get the quantity you want so even if its just a couple of rashers for a bacon sarnie or a few sausages you’re after, then the place will do it, and it’ll be remarkably cheap. Sometimes they have some exciting sausages in as well, so keep an eye out for those.
If you live near Withington, definitely worth checking out.

Quite possibly the best butchers in Withington (mind you there’s not a whole lot of competition these days).
We’ve never experienced anything other that fantastic, friendly customer service here — bit more life affirming (ironically being a purveyor of dead animals) than your shelf packaged meats seen in the aisles of the large supermarkets.
Thankfully they have a good range of free range chickens — ethics aside the taste is as chicken should be and not some meek specimen purporting to once being a bird.
They have a cold cut section (the hams are good) and a display of pre cut meats (usually on offer depending on the time of day you get there). This range is superb for those rare barbecue moments — pork, beef, chicken — some of which are pre marinated. Also (and again just before closing is a good time to go if you wish to bag a bargain) they do hot chickens which are as tasty as they come (and once again wipe the floor with the likes of the big supermarket boys).
Quality butchers.