John Rose the butcher cut lamb cutlets for Queen Elizabeth during her majesty’s visit to south Warwickshire
WHEN John Rose got a Saturday job at a Kineton butchers in 1963 aged 12 he had no idea that one day he would be cutting lamb cutlets for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
It’s been a long and enjoyable 60-year career for John but it all comes to an end when he retires today, Saturday, aged 72, from HC Lewis Butchers in Kineton and the business closes the same day after 130 years of serving the community.
One of the highlights for John was serving the Queen when she visited south Warwickshire for an official engagement 35 years ago.
”In 1988 HC Lewis had the privilege of serving the Queen when she opened the Central Ammunitions Depot at Temple Herdewyke. We provided the meat for the rehearsal, and then I had the honour of cutting the lamb cutlets that were served to Her Majesty on the day. I have also served Michelle Dotrice, Edward Woodward and a few other famous people,” John said.
He moved to Kineton at the age of eight with his parents and two sisters and started at the butchers when he was 12. His jobs were sweeping the floor, washing up and running errands but he wasn’t allowed to touch a knife until he started training aged 16.
”The butchers was very much at the heart of the community back then, when the woman of the house would shop every day for the family without the use of a car to get to supermarkets like today. It was a very busy shop in the past, mostly employing local men in the trade with whom I have many fond memories of the many years I worked with them. Going back to the first part of the 20th century there were three butchers in the village with H C Lewis surviving for 130 years,” said John.
Live cattle, sheep and pigs were bought from Stratford Cattle Market by the grandfather of Thomas Lewis (John’s employer) on a Tuesday and transported back to the shop where they were slaughtered and processed at the back of the butchers.
“Christmas has always been the best time in the shop,” John said. “In the past, approximately 200 turkeys would arrive “rough plucked” three weeks before and it would take until Christmas Eve to prepare them for collection when the queue would snake down the road. The atmosphere on Christmas Eve in the shop is amazing and especially nice seeing people that I hadn’t seen in a while. I have been told that in the winter of 1947 the snow was so deep deliveries were almost impossible, however the butcher walked several miles carrying the orders to neighbouring villages taking many hours to do so.”
He says his favourite meal is a good old fashioned roast dinner but he enjoys cooking which is an advantage when advising customers when they on how to cook their meat.
Saturday will also see John’s colleague, Colin Scruby 76, retire from the butchers shop in Kineton after many years having previously worked at Hughes the Butchers in Bull Street, Stratford.
Reflecting on his long career and the closure of the HC Lewis John told the Herald.
“I have mixed emotions about the closure. I have been privileged to call it my own business for the last 12 years but now with the huge increase in my electric bill and other factors, I have decided it’s time to retire. There have been so many happy times and I shall miss the banter and connection with customers, many of whom I have watched grow up and now come in with children of their own. One of whom I married two years ago.
It has come as a shock to the village that we are closing, but on the whole people have been very supportive and have wished both my colleague Colin and myself all the best in our retirement. I would like to thank customers past and present for their loyal support and friendship. It has been a pleasure to serve you.”