Historian Martyn Taylor explores the storied past of Barwells butcher shop in Bury St Edmunds, from its origins to its closure.
In 1882, Simon Last owned a failing tobacco shop nearby. He set his shop on fire for insurance money. People saw him leaving soon after the fire started. His insurance claim arrived quickly, which looked bad. He got five years of hard labor for arson.
A big fire hit Abbeygate Street in 1882. Rebuilt buildings used red brick and sat back farther. Number 39 was different because its back stayed timber-framed. It had less damage, so the owner likely had money. He faced the front with expensive bricks.
George Moore, a butcher, moved there in the 1880s. He went from Northgate Street to Abbeygate Street. In 1890, Robert Newman Barwell bought the shop. Barwell expanded it and became well-known. In 1904, he was a churchwarden and donated a photo when King Edward VII visited.
Benjamin Lacey, a butcher, bought the business in 1916. He came from Great Yarmouth.
During World War One, rationing happened. Lacey used ration wallets like many did. His 1918 wallet had sugar ration cards, and customer George Tidmarsh used one. It mentioned grocer Frank White on St John’s Street, stating sugar supplies before a date might be limited. Customers needed cards to buy their weekly rations.
Lacey grew the business. He opened a shop on Eastgate Street that had a slaughterhouse. It became the area’s largest meat wholesaler, thriving in the 1940s. By the 1960s, it declined due to lacking modern standards. Brafields took over this part, already owning a slaughterhouse and Moore’s old butcher shop.
Lacey was a good businessman. He founded a butchers’ group and was also chairman of Bury Town F.C.
Maurice Lacey took over in 1955. Chris Lacey, his son, joined him in 1965. They expanded in the 1970s, buying Dixons, a pork butcher on Risbygate Street in 1971.
William Dixon sold good meat as a high-class butcher, starting in 1896. His sausages became popular, as did his brawn, a kind of meat jelly. They also took over Boughton Brothers.
Chris Lacey gained full control in 1978. People loved the pies and game. However, supermarkets grew, impacting business. The wholesale side closed in 1980. By the 1990s, only the Abbeygate Street shop remained.
In 1999, Chris sold Barwells to Peter Harper who was a butcher from Bedfordshire. He ran it until Christmas Eve 2011, after which Barwells closed down.
Patisserie Valerie opened in its place, selling cakes and pastries. That business also closed later. Then Dough&co, a pizza place, opened and rebranded as Slices Bottomless Pizza.