Lincs Pride MAR 224.qxp 02/02/2021 09:53 Page 46
CURTIS OF LINCOLN
GREAT LOCAL
FOOD Tradition meets technology as one of Lincolnshire’s longest established butchers and bakers is making its products available on Yummy, the website which delivers fresh local food, right to you door... Words: Rob Davis.
THERE’S NOTHING QUITE LIKE the smell of baking bread. The scent is particularly prevalent on Lincoln’s Long Leys Road, the main site for the production operations of A W Curtis Bakers & Butchers of Lincoln. Happily, A W Curtis is still thriving even amid general trading conditions, and even during Covid-19. And now, the availability of the company’s range of bread, meat and teatime treats will be available from Yummy, the sister company of Lincolnshire Pride which delivers fresh local food right to your door. It’s one of the oldest butchers and bakers in Lincolnshire, not to mention one of the largest and the one with the most comprehensive ranges of products. So old is A W Curtis, in fact, that its exact date of origin is unknown, but we are certain that it existed in something like its modern form in 1828, beginning life as a pork butcher. Today, A W Curtis Bakers & Butchers and its retail sister company Curtis of Lincoln is the most well-known butchers and bakers in Lincolnshire. Our High Streets, though, have taken a battering during lockdown with footfall even more thin on the ground and the 46
abundance of out of town retailers – not least among which is the big four supermarkets – driving people out of our town centres. Today, A W Curtis is almost a 24/7 operation and though he’s researched the history of both his profession, and of the family business, the firm’s Neil Curtis is still discovering new facts about the company and its extensive history all the time. In addition, he still keeps his hand in across the company, delivering or helping his team with production, despite having nearly 100 employees to look after as well. Neil is still a dab hand with a sharp butcher’s knife but he’s just as sharp as a businessman, and a keen ambassador for local food. “At times such as these, you’ve got to be able to roll up your sleeves and get the job done when it’s necessary,” he says. “And we’ve 20 shops, so the demand is still there, we’ve got to keep the orders going out! At the same time though you’ve also got to embrace change, hence working with Yummy to provide our very traditional high-quality products but retailing them in a really modern way.” >>
