RESIDENTS of Gainford have been dealt a further blow as another shop has closed its doors.
Only weeks after learning the post office was to shut another business, Joe Simpson Butchers, in High Row, has ceased trading.
The independent butchers, which served a variety of products including fresh vegetables, eggs, butcher meat and freshly baked produce, shut its doors for the final time on Saturday, August 11, ending a 28-year association with the village.
Owner and master butcher Joe Simpson said: “It’s the end of an era and a very sad day.
“We would like to thank all of our customers for their support over the years.
“We will still be running our shop in Cockfield and we would love to see them there.”
Mr Simpson, a third generation butcher, baker and farmer, will continue to run his shop on Front Street, in Cockfield, as well as the abattoir, one of the last remaining in the region, which he re-opened in 2010.
His partner, Susan Jackson, who runs the abattoir side of the business, said: “It was an unavoidable decision we had to make.”
Mr Simpson added Paul Irving, who had been running the Gainford shop, will now join the team at Cockfield.
Last year, villagers united to say a special farewell to the previous butcher John Wigham who had served them for more than a quarter of a century but had decided it was time to hang up his cleaver.
