For more than 100 years JJJ Heathcote has been ensuring Bollington’s residents are festive feast ready. By Janet Reeder

Jeremy Heathcote proprietor of Bollington’s oldest purveyor of meats JJJ Heathcote doesn’t “mince” his words when explaining about all the hard work that goes into making the festive feast so special.

It’s not just a case of just selling turkeys and sausages; Jeremy and his team have to prepare hundreds of orders in the lead up to the big day. It’s a huge operation, hence if you don’t tell them what you want by a certain date, there is a chance it won’t make it onto your yuletide table.

“Last year we processed something like 900 orders but because everything needs to be fresh, and we can only start three days before Christmas the work is intense. We also make all our own sausage do all our own cooked meats so there’ s a lot of prep involved at Christmas time,” explains Jeremy.

“What makes the job more stressful if someone doesn’t order on time. The later orders put a bit of a spanner in the works, so I do carry a few spares just in case.

“It’s a big responsibility. Somebody’s Christmas dinner could be ruined.”

There’s a story about his dad and a young girl turned up at the shop on Christmas Eve desperately trying to buy a turkey. There was only one left, the one meant for his own family. So, he let her have that.

“We had pork that Christmas,” laughs Jeremy.

And in a twist of fate years later that girl became a member of his family as his brother Christopher’s wife.

Jeremy along with his brother Chris and their cousin Michael are third generation butchers following a trail blazed by its founder their grandfather Jonathan James Jackson Heathcote.

He takes up the story: “We opened in Bollington in 1908, but my grandfather was a butcher back in the 1890s and his mother and family were in butchering and farming.

“He had eight children six boys and two girls who all worked in the business. The eldest boys were butchers, slaughterman and farmers; one of the girls worked in the shop while the other did the bookkeeping.

“We did have an abattoir until about 26 years ago, maybe longer, and we still retain one building there to hang the meat which is sourced locally.”

Local is very much an overused buzzword in the food industry but Jeremy can tell you the exact origin of all the meats sold in their Palmerston Street shop.

He reels off the names of some of their suppliers: “Lambs come from Sheldon’s on Sugar Lane, beef from Slater’s near Prestbury, the pork does travel a little bit; it comes from Buxton and chickens we had to source now from Penrith. Turkey at Christmas come from Garnett’s at Goosetrey a family we’ve dealt with for years and we also get geese from Huddersfield.”

JJJ Heathcote is still very much a family business, however, as butchering isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, he also has a close-knit team who have been recruited from outside.

“We do have four good lads who work with us in the shop,” he says.

“Kevin Spencer has been with us for 32 years and Ian Hewitt has been in butchering a long time, while Sean Barber at the front of shop is a smashing lad who has been with us from being aged 18 – he’s now 26. And we have Jack Bentley who has just finished his qualifications in butchering and who has been with us for 18 months.”

There used to be four JJJ Heathcote shops in Cheshire but while the family still own the buildings they have been transformed into cafes and bars.

Maybe that’s in part because of another beef of Jeremey’s that a lot of the people who buy their meat at Christmas don’t shop there for the rest of the year.

It’s not a big deal: “But they do support us at Christmas, and we try our best to look after them,” he says.

Turkey is as popular for Christmas Day as it ever was, with sausages also a best seller for the festive season.

“We do sell a lot of turkey rolled breasts – some butchers call them crowns – we supply them boned and rolled,” he says.

“They are good value and go a lot further to be honest.”

Jeremy’s own Christmas is not as busy as it used to be partly because it’s two days off and then back to work, but he says the family like to keep the festive table traditional with turkey and all the trimmings. He does all the cooking and wife Edwina prepares the vegetables.

“I actually go for a turkey breast to be honest. It’s traditional but so easy to cook. It won’t dry out as much but when you cook it you need to keep an eye on it because it does cook quicker than a whole turkey. You should just treat it as a piece of beef.”

Jeremy is very proud of the business which has weathered all kinds of economic storms over the years. The business is very much at the beating heart of the community and he’ll support local causes – going beyond the call of duty in 2009 for a Naked Bollington calendar to raise funds for charity!

However, he admits that things in Bollington are changing, some for the better such as the great restaurants and shops in the village but the involvement of Cheshire East council looks like making things difficult for all of them.

“We have a problem with Cheshire East at the moment” he reveals.

“They are trying to put car parking charges on Poole Bank, which is a big car park in the village. At one stage it was owned by Bollington Council and in the past, it did belong to one or two families in the village who gifted it to Bollington but there’s no record of that now.

“What worries me is that if people start having to pay for parking it will kill what we have here. We are thriving at the moment. The weekends and Saturday nights are busy. We’ve got some cracking restaurants, No 74 Delicatessen, Rootstock, we’ve got The Green, Tapa, The Lime Tree Kira and Pappas as well as other shops and they all rely on that car park and so do local residents.

“It’s worrying all the traders to be honest. I just hope something can be resolved.

“We are happy as we are, so I think Cheshire East need to reassess the situation.”

Jeremy’s Honey Glazed Ham

As well as the traditional turkey and all the trimmings, a beautiful piece of ham can take centre stage on any festive table. Jeremy suggests adding a sticky honey and mustard glaze to the gammon.

“This will create a delicious sweetness that will contrast with the saltiness of the meat.” He says.

“It’s great for a Christmas supper.”