G A Lockhart

Being a student, I’m hardwired to find the best value for money I can when food shopping. Value ranges, food dangerously close to giving whoever eats it food poisoning, it’s tough going sometimes. However, once in a while, splurging on a treat is something that you just have to do, and one of the best places in Selly Oak to do this is at G A Lockhart, a traditional style butchers, complete with classic style of awning and a life size plastic butcher. The quality of the meat is excellent; I’m no food expert, and can’t generally tell the difference between high end and low end produce from supermarkets, but there is an unmistakable jump in the quality of taste. The service is always friendly, which really helps enhance the idea that this is a real, old fashioned, local butchers. A rare treat in the franchise-​saturated area of Selly Oak.

Commentators have been moaning about the death of the great British High Street for years now. G A Lockhart’s butchers is exactly the kind of buisness such complainers would wish to save, it’s so traditional that an almost life size figure of a butcher stands outside the shop, complete with straw hat, moustache and red and white apron. There’s even school photographs of what I imagine to be the proprietors children on the wall. The meat is great, in fact I’m willing to bet that the meat from here beats the equivalent meat from a supermarket in a blind test every time. I’d particularly reccomend the sausages which are so much better than ordinary sausages that they seem like a totally different product. The honey and mustard ones were the centre piece of the best breakfast I’ve had in months. Ok, the price isn’t cheap, but we all know that sometimes it’s neccessary to pay for quality, and the jump in quality you get from shopping here is far greater than the jump in price. Highly reccomended.

Lockarts is probably one of the best Butchers shops in the city. The service is unfailingly friendly and polite and the staff really know their meat. Most of the meat is prepared on the premises and they even make their own sausages from time to time. Their beef and lamb mince is always of a really high quality, as you will see when you cook it and hardly any fat is created. Their best product, though, is their bacon, which is thick and very, very tasty. They also carry a selection of pies and pasties, smoked cheeses, plus sauces and condiments for cooking meat. In the summer they do an excellent range of meats for use on the BBQ.
At Christmas and Easter time the queue is often out the door, and the shop is often busy on Saturday mornings, which should tell you that this is a place much admired by the locals round these parts. This is well worth a visit.