A FAMILY-RUN butcher’s shop near Portishead has welcomed another relative into the fold.

Despite the recession, Sheepway Meats at Shipway Gate Farm in Sheepway, has continued to go from strength to strength since it opened in 2007, in the absence of a butcher’s shop in Portishead.

Now, farmer’s son James Crossman, aged 33, who quit a career in the aircraft industry to go back to working at the family farm three years ago, is training as a butcher to help cope with demand.

His sister Joanne, who manages the day-to-day running of the farm shop, said: “People tell us they want quality and as that is what we offer, we are getting busier and busier each week. James was the ideal choice to train up, keeping the business a real family affair and with an extra pair of hands we can now expand our stock too.

“I know people say small independent businesses are dying out but we are living proof that doesn’t have to be the case.”