Keeping pork purchases up to scratch

WELL done for the article to help “save our bacon” (Yorkshire Post, February 11).

The tragedy is that our home produced pork now only has a market share of 38 per cent as the cheap imports to supermarkets have decimated our own producers.

Here, we have abided by laws on welfare and the care of our pigs – yet as every year goes by 27 butchers go out of business; so do our Yorkshire pig farmers.

My pigs go to the local Hull market where only local butchers buy pigs, so travel only 20 miles from farm to plate.

Please, please Yorkshire Post readers, “buy Yorkshire” and then the ever-increasing imports from the EU can be slowed down.

Remember, pork is half the price of lamb and a quarter of the price of beef, so save money and save our Yorkshire pig farmers.

From: Rosamond Jackson, Church Hill, Sherburn-in-Elmet, Leeds.

I READ with interest your article on Starkey’s Butchers in Sherburn-in-Elmet (Yorkshire Post, February 11).

My family own the other butcher’s shop in Sherburn-in-Elmet, Jackson’s Butchers and greengrocers.

We have been in business here since the late 1800s, spanning four generations.

When my grandfather and father owned the shop they had their own slaughterhouse and there were four thriving butcher’s shops including the Yorkshire Farmers’ Bacon Shop.

How sad it is to read there were 20,000 such shops in the 1990s and now only 6,000 have survived.

These village shops, including an excellent card shop, jewellers, and bakery are a vital part of community life here.

Let us hope that people will start to realise that quality counts and long may the independent shops survive.

From: Chris Ramus, Duchy Road, Harrogate.

JAYNE Dowle raises some interesting points regarding the demise of our high streets (Yorkshire Post, February 16).

If the march of the super markets has to be halted, then it must come from central government, not at local level.

Large supermarket chains put in planning applications and even if it is turned down by the local authority, you can be sure when it goes to appeal that it will inevitably get approval one way or another.

Local traders however, don’t have the muscle or financial clout to get through the maze of planning that now exists.

We no longer work on a level playing field. So it is no surprise, when costs are soaring to see local retailers under such pressure as never before.

The whole shopping experience could be so much better when making your daily or weekly purchases, from high street or local shops.

Most of the time it is a good experience from retailers who care about their customers.

All too often (as Jayne Dowle says) retailers cannot be bothered to give the service that they once did.

Although it pains me to admit it, in the last two years, supermarkets have raised the bar substantially.

My recent shopping experience has been, that most assistants in large superstores can be more helpful than assistants in privately run businesses.

Once retailers stop giving service, then you may as well buy it from a supermarket or better still do it from the comfort of your own home and have it delivered to your door.

Charity should begin at home

From: Peter A Ellis, Patterdale Drive, Dalton, Huddersfield.

WILLIAM Hague (Yorkshire Post, February 13) mentions a shared objective with the Afghan government and to prevent the country being used as a safe haven for so-called terrorists. We here in the real world are not interested in the welfare of Afghanistan and why should we endure savage cuts to our vital services to help stabilise a country that isn’t even part of the United Kingdom?

Our daily terror is the real issue of how are we going to pay our mortgages and find the funds for vital necessities such as food and fuel, and to pay our inflated utility bills.

Why don’t these mere trifles concern Mr Hague?

We don’t want you to give our money to Afghanistan or anyone else, Mr Hague.

Charity begins at home, we desperately need all our resources to be invested in our own economy.

Obviously liable

From: Alan Thorn, Solicitor, Burr Sugden Solicitors, Devonshire Street, Keighley.

MR Woodhouse’s doctor was misinformed (Yorkshire Post, February 14). It’s a common misconception that you’re only liable to someone who slips on property you own or occupy if you’ve tried to clear the snow and missed some.

That may be the case if by trying to clear it you make matters worse on the public footpath running past your home or business, as you have no duty to clear it and can therefore leave the snow.

However, the Occupiers Liability Act imposes a duty upon all occupiers to keep their premises reasonably safe for visitors.

So if you slip on uncleared snow on your doctor’s property, a supermarket’s car park or the drive leading to your workplace, you may well have a claim.

And be warned, if the postman slips and injures himself on uncleared snow on your drive, he may have a claim against you.