From Mac Burnham to Chapel Butchers Block - A Family Legacy Keeps the High Street Alive |
When the town's beloved butcher passed away, his children Jake and Abbie stepped up to make sure the shop and everything it stood for carried on. |
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There are businesses that serve a community, and then there are businesses that become part of it. Mac Burnham's Traditional Family Butchers, at 5, High Street in Chapel-en-le-Frith, was very much the latter. For over three decades, Mac Burnham built a reputation as one of the High Peak's finest traditional butchers, sourcing locally, making his own pies and pastries, supplying pubs, hotels and restaurants across the area, and even appearing on Channel 4 food programmes Secret Supper Club and There's No Taste Like Home. He was, by all accounts, the definition of a grafter.
When Mac passed away in 2023, the future of the shop was far from certain. Businesses like his do not simply replace themselves. But his children, Jake and Abbie, had other ideas. Despite both having demanding careers of their own, they stepped in with what Deacon's Bank, the award-winning restaurant that had sourced its meat from Mac for over a decade, described as "remarkable dedication." The business did not close. It did not falter. It carried on.
In October 2023, the shop was relaunched under a new name, Chapel Butchers Block, with the same staff, the same trusted service, and the same commitment to quality locally-sourced meat that Mac had built his reputation on. The relaunch announcement put it simply: "We're still trading, still going strong, and proud to keep delivering the same strong service and quality products you know and love."
It is exactly the kind of story that the High Peak does well, a family business, a community that rallied around it, and a next generation willing to put in the work to keep something worth keeping. Chapel Butchers Block is open on High Street in the centre of Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Find them on Facebook at Chapel Butcher's Block.
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