The cost of living crisis has meant a slump in the amount of stuff we can all afford to buy now - according to the latest figures - but there’s one retail sector which is still noticing an uplift from the Covid pandemic: upmarket butchers.
According to Bristol butcher Dave Kelly, who co-founded Ruby & White on Whiteladies Road in Clifton, his customers ‘haven’t swapped sirloin steaks for braising steak quite yet’.
Speaking as the Office for National Statistics reveals a 1.4 per cent drop in retail sales volumes - literally, the number of things we bought - in March, Mr Kelly said the Covid pandemic is still giving a bit of a boost to their trade.
Read more: Cost of living crisis and energy bills rising will be 'a challenging time for a lot of people'
Although 1.4 per cent does not sound much for retail sales volumes to slump, it represents billions of pounds of business that stopped going through the tills of Britain’s shops during March.
The ONS said there was a 0.5 per cent fall in February, and the size of March’s decline took economists by surprise - the City experts had forecast a drop of just 0.3 per cent.
The monthly figures are used by the Bank of England and the Treasury as providing an early warning sign - and the sign is a huge one, that people have stopped buying as much stuff as they did before, mainly because of the rising cost of household bills and petrol, and the fact things in the shops cost a lot more than before, with inflation running at around eight per cent.
But while demand has dropped across the nation, at Ruby & White’s butchers shop in Whiteladies Road, things are still relatively buoyant. Butcher Dave Kelly co-founded Ruby & White with restaurateur Adam Denton, who wanted a butchery to supply his neighbouring restaurant The Cowshed.
Mr Kelly said that while it was obvious there were troubled times ahead for the economy, they had managed to survive so far and customers were still spending there. “People haven't swapped sirloin steaks for braising steak quite yet but there are clearly economic storm clouds ahead,” he said. “Though inflation and energy bills are soaring, sales for us are holding up for now and we haven't seen a noticeable shift in customers switching to cheaper meats such as chicken or pork,” he added.
And it’s been the pandemic that has seen an upturn in demand for expensive meats, because people are not going to restaurants. “We've found that the pandemic has changed people's socialising habits,” said Mr Kelly. “Staying in is the new going out as it's much cheaper and people can afford to drink and eat better in their own homes rather than in restaurants.
"An expensive cut of meat from a butcher is still significantly cheaper than eating out and for now that's supporting our sales. However, we're acutely aware of the financial pressures people are facing and are monitoring things closely so we can do our best to support our customers in the months ahead.
“The health of an entire economy can in many respects be determined by the cuts of meat people buy,” he added.
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