Turnbulls
Situated in the heart of rural Northumberland, Turnbull’s of Alnwick are a sixth generation Family Butchers, established in 1880.
The business is now owned and run by Mark Turnbull and his son Daniel. Turnbull's have built a reputation for selling the finest quality, Local Meats, Home Made Sausages and Burgers, Home Cured Bacon and delicious Home Cooked Meats.
The business first traded on Clayport Street, Alnwick, not far from the current day premises they occupy. Whilst the Town Centre shop continues to thrive in the heart of Alnwick, Turnbull’s have also become the must-visit home of Northumbrian Food with the creation of a flagship Food Hall on the edge of town, which opened in December 2019.
The modern, state-of the art Food Hall encompasses a Traditional Butchers as well as an indulgent selection of seasonal vegetables, award-winning pies and salads, hot and cold food-to go and so much more. The Food Hall also showcases the best Northumbrian Produce from an abundance of local suppliers making Turnbull’s the one stop shop for everything you might need.
"By shopping local you are not only supporting us, but you are also supporting the 40 staff who work for Turnbull’s, and most importantly, you are directly supporting the livelihoods of all of our local farmers and producers who work incredibly hard and are just as passionate about local food and drink as we are."
How has the business had to adapt during Coronavirus?
From the moment all nonessential retailers were forced to close, Turnbull’s very quickly adapted to providing food and supplies for the local community. Not only did we start to deliver to the more vulnerable members of the community and those who struggled to travel into Alnwick, we also very quickly started our call and collect service. This service proved immensely popular, and it is one that we have continued. The phone never stopped ringing; we were taking hundreds of calls every day to customers who were worried because they couldn’t leave the house.
Secondly, as we noticed people could not get into the Shop, we decided to bring the shop to them we started doing Facebook live shop tours so customers can browse the shop from the comfort of their own home. These live videos became an instant hit getting hundreds and hundreds of viewers every single week. Now we do Facebook live Videos weekly in which we share Skills Videos from our Butchers, Cookery Demonstrations, Interviews with Local Suppliers and stories from Turnbull’s. We also have a monthly “One Show” style show “The Butchers Block” where we chat to local suppliers about their products.
And finally, based on the popularity of our call and collect service we have also introduced click and collect via our online shop. Online shopping is a completely new territory for a small independent local butcher, so we are so happy to be able to introduce our easy-to-use service with dedicated time slots for customers to click and collect their orders via our website.
What can people expect when they shop locally?
By shopping local you are not only supporting us, but you are also supporting the 40 staff who work for Turnbull’s, and most importantly, you are directly supporting the livelihoods of all of our local farmers and producers who work incredibly hard and are just as passionate about local food and drink as we are.
We are also proud members of the Produced In Northumberland Scheme which champions local produce and members of the national Q Guild of Butchers which represents the quality, skill and craftmanship of the trade.