Butchers from market town near Lancaster head to House of Lords to compete for top award

Dales Butchers from Kirkby Lonsdale was recently named as ‘Best Butcher in the North of England’ at the 2025 Countryside Alliance Awards, heralded for “outstanding service, imaginative marketing and strong community spirit”.

Now butcher Mark Duckworth and his team are preparing for the chance to scoop the national title at a special Champions’ Reception in London – competing against fellow winners from across the UK.

Dales Butchers has been serving local communities for more than 120 years, with Mark taking the reins in 1999.

He started in the industry at 13 years old, training at Blackpool and Fylde College – then considered to be one the UK’s best training colleges for butchery – before gaining valuable experience at Lancashire’s prestigious Northcote hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant at Langho.

It was during a stint at a North Yorkshire farm shop at Wigglesworth near Skipton that he discovered his second love, pie making; and perfected many of the award-winning pies he still prepares for customers today.

Dales Butchers’ roll of honour already includes being named as ‘Britain’s Best Butchers Shop’ in 2021, producing ‘Britain’s Best Sausage’ in 2023 and multiple awards for handmade pies at the British Pie Awards and the World Championship Scotch Pie Awards.

Dales also secured The Golden Haggis Award in 2024 and 2025 – the first English butcher to win this prestigious Scottish award two years running.

The latest Countryside Alliance award for ‘Best Butcher in the North of England’ recognises a commitment to local sourcing, with around 90% of the meat sold coming from nearby farms like Mansergh Hall Farm in the Yorkshire Dales.

Mark said: “We prepare all our meats using traditional methods to guarantee most tender and flavoursome results. For example, dry-ageing our meats helps retain a more concentrated flavour, unlike the majority of supermarket meat which is aged in vacuum packs, making it less tender.”

The owner of a fellow independent, family-run business in Kirkby Lonsdale, Graeme Gladwinfield, said: “At Avanti Restaurant and Bar, we treat our suppliers as a key part of our success.

"So we’re proud to buy all our fresh meat, sausage and cured pancetta from Dales Butchers just a few doors down the road, rather than a faceless wholesaler who doesn’t immediately know where individual cuts of meat have come from.”

“Understanding authentic food provenance and its journey to people’s plates is really valuable for our customers, and our relationship with Dales means we can literally point at the farms where our meat is sourced!

“Best of luck to Mark and the team representing not just Kirkby Lonsdale but the whole of northern England at the House of Lords.”

Mark added: “We’re all excited about the prospect of potentially winning another national award – and that’s a testament to our fantastic customers, staff and wider community who’ve helped get us here. However, we don’t rest on our laurels!

“Looking to the future, it’s also about keeping up with new trends and opportunities. Take our dining and tapas ranges, which are proving very popular. Our self-catering packs for people visiting the local area are taking off too, rapidly growing from just a couple of premium meals to around 200 sold every week.”

“Plus, the online side of the business is continuing to grow and we now have repeat customers from as far afield as Scotland and even Cornwall using www.dalesbutchers.co.uk.”