Browns Butchers has been a Raymond Terrace institution to generations of shoppers but greener pastures call to Tim Brown, nonetheless it’s been a difficult step for the third generation butcher.
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Tim was just 15 when he did his trade under his dad, Warren, who brought the butchery to the Terrace from Newcastle forty years ago. By that stage the business had already been around fifty years. “It’s emotional for me...” Tim said, as he composed himself.
While Warren’s long been retired the business has continued to win awards for its sausages, bacon and ham under Tim who has had to break the news to regulars.
“The opportunity to operate out of Clarence Town came up and we couldn’t not take it on,” he said. “Some of our regulars are disappointed but others are saying ‘we’ll see you in Clarence Town’.”
Being business, he said it came down to the dollars and cents. After 17 years at Market Place, Tim said it was time to move on. “Our Thornton shop at the shopping centre has been doing really well and I didn’t want to have three shops,” he said.
“Thornton is going nuts and the rent is only half as much as here so it makes sense to keep it, with Raymond Terrace, it’s different there isn’t the growth here. There’s also more and more competition with Aldi and Woolies at Medowie, and Woolies at Gloucester, there isn’t the people coming to us like there used to be,” he said.
The news that the business was moving was made public with a post on their Facebook page last Wednesday. As of Friday afternoon the post had been shared 60 times, with close to 400 ‘likes’ along with other reactions.
We’re saying to our Raymond Terrace regulars, we can’t wait to see you in Clarence Town.
- Tim Brown, Browns Butchery
Tim lives with his family at Clarence Town, as does Warren who is the principal supplier of beef to the shops, with the cattle reared along the Williams River.
The original Browns Butchery was opened in Newcastle in 1928 by Tim’s grandfather George Brown. On Monday, July 2, some 90 years later, Tim’s new butchery opened in Clarence Town with Tim saying that he is confident the new store will be a raging success.