Crawshaw hit by rising price of meat

The Rotherham-based company, which has butchery stores across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, said like-for-like sales for the year to date are two per cent below last year.

The group said rising meat prices have put pressure on margins, with year to date margins now being one percentage point below last year.

As footfall in stores has remained robust, Crawshaw believes the decline in sales is being driven by customers trading down and making purchases last longer. The average customer spend is just over £4 and Crawshaw is looking to broaden the product offer to increase sales.