James left School to be signed as a professional Rugby player at London Irish only for injury to cut it short! Following on from that he went to work in his Dads Meat Wholesale company at Smithfield, London. Quickly becoming fascinated with Butchery and begin to learn the Artisan trade.

Opening his first shop at 22 in Shepperton, Surrey, before moving to much larger and prominent location on the high street in 2014. He’s a great advocate of the Q Guild of Butchers which he was accepted into 12 years ago, managing to become the youngest regional chairman at 34.

He was very proud to represent his country in 2014 when he was selected for the GB Butchery team to take part in the Tri-Nations competition against Australia and New Zealand. His shop prides itself on Whole-body Butchery from Local, Free Range, Rare Breed Animals, that have been raised to the highest standard. Visiting the Farms & Abattoir’s they use regularly and seeing the importance of these connections to the end consumer. Recently expanding to National Delivery via their Website www.Butchers-shop.com The shop has won many accolades including:

• Finalist Meat Management Butchers Shop of the Year 2017,
• Best Lamb product by EBLEX 2014,
• Best Scotch Beef product 2017 by QMS,
• Q Guild National BBQ finals 2018,
• Winning both Best Pork Sausage and Best Burger.
• Champion of Champions UK & Ireland Best Sausage Finalist 2020
• Champion of Champions UK & Ireland Best Sausage Finalist 2022

James regularly holds Butchers Masterclass at his shop and have given Butchery demonstration around the British Isles, he is also a keen cook and lover of all that is Barbequed. James is extremely honoured to be invited back as a judge for the Fourth time and can’t wait to sink his teeth into the challenge again!