Skip to content

Meet the 80-year-old butcher with no plans to retire

Charlie Stubbsin Shrewsbury
Charlie Stubbs / BBC There is a man in a chequered button up shirt. He has black framed glasses on and short, thin grey hair. In front of him, to the right, is a piece of cured pork. Behind him to his right is a red meat cutter and an electric fly buzzer. To his back left, there is a big silver fridge with red stickers saying 'raw meat only' and 'raw meat fridge'Charlie Stubbs / BBC
Mel Ling has been a butcher since he was twelve years old

Mel Ling has been a butcher for most of his life.

He has been in the industry for close to seven decades, starting when he was twelve years old.

Having turned 80 last month, he said the trade looks massively different from when he first started, and is concerned about the future because of the cost of living.

Despite having two breeding pigs himself, he said that some farmers are getting rid of their animals because their food is "too expensive."

Ling started in butchering working in a shop in Birmingham as a way to get some extra pocket money.

He then worked in Lichfield, before getting his own shop in Bomere Heath.

Ling was in the village for five years before moving into Shrewsbury Market Hall in 1990.

Despite being in butchering for 68 years, he said he "does not know where the time has gone."

"I love what I do. We are looking towards retirement, but I think I have probably got about another 10 or 15 years left, which will take me to 90 plus," Ling said.

"It is not a job. It is a way of life."

Shrewsbury Market Hall There are three men. On the far right, there is a man in a white polo, red stripey trousers and glasses. In the middle, there is a man in a cream shirt and black trousers with glasses. He has his arms out. On the left, there is a man in a black shirt and green trousers. He is balancing two white cups in his hand.Shrewsbury Market Hall
Mel Ling (far right) and two fellow traders Mike Jones (far left) and Johnny Basset (middle) in the Market Hall in the 1990s.

Ling said despite him paying his staff more, his staff's money does not go as far.

"If you ask them if they are any better off than when it was £7 or £8, they will say no because the cost of living has gone up," Ling added.

"It's OK to give the minimum wage, but if everything else is going up at the same time, there is no more money to spend on your shopping and extra bits and pieces."

He added that he believes his suppliers and farmers are keeping less animals because the cost to keep them is too much.

"The cost of food has gone through the roof. The cost of pigs has actually gone down and there's more and more pig farmers coming out the job because they can't afford to rear the pigs," Ling said.

"Cattle [is the same.] Some chap in Wrexham had to sell his cattle a few weeks ago because he couldn't afford to feed them.

"How this year has panned out with the lack of grass growing and whatnot, it'll be a strange old winter."

Charlie Stubbs / BBC There is a shop with big glass windows. The inner frames of those windows are white and the outer boarding is black. He has golden letters on the shop, on the top saying '85' , 'Appleyards' and '240180'. On the glass it says 'Appleyards Delicatessan, and 'Fine Foods.' Charlie Stubbs / BBC
After the success of his market stall 'Cook & Carve' in 1990, he opened Appleyards as a sister shop

When asked if there could be a shortage in British meat, he said there would not be one this year, but there "might" be one in the near future.

"We use a small abattoir in Wrexham and we use a lot of the local farmers from up there," Ling said.

"But, one by one they are dropping out of it, so the writing is on the wall."

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

More on this story