English Shopkeeper Claps Back At Vegans Who Claim His Streetside Meat Display Is ‘Offensive’
A English shopkeeper is standing his ground against vegans who claim that his streetside meat display is “offensive,” The Norfolk News reports.
Anthony and Bridget Mattocks are the owners of Norfolk’s Pie Man in Sheringham. Six days per week, the shop serves meat pies, a beloved and traditional British meal. Meat pies are, of course, made with meat, and that’s on full display for the public on Saturdays. That’s the day the Mattocks host a hog roast, roasting the animal in front of the shop, head still attached to the carcass, on a busy street filled with pedestrian traffic, for all to see and smell. They also do a booming business with it.
And some townsfolk, including some vegans, aren’t happy about it.
Ricky Ossitt, for example, called it “distressing,” and wondered aloud if the meat pie shop has a vegan option — it does not. He mentioned that he has a vegan friend who works in that town and hopes she doesn’t have to see it.
Another townsperson, Stuart Facey, didn’t object to the hog roast, just its location; he suggested that perhaps the shopkeepers should roast the pig out back — they will not.
And Dawn Thompson said that children could be upset by seeing a dead pig.
“Not everyone likes to see a dead animal on display every Saturday in town,” she said.
There has been a great deal of negativity on high street shop closures in recent weeks, both nationally and locally. So it was an absolute delight to see Norfolk’s Pie Man, managed by Anthony and Bridget Mattocks, open their doors for business on the… https://t.co/XNu4BPtFd3
— North Norfolk News (@nthnorfolknews) February 2, 2019
Mrs. Mattocks isn’t having that criticism. She notes that she’s been in the business of selling meat products for over a decade, and even her vegan friends are okay with it. And as for the Saturday streetside hog roast: it’s here to stay, she says.
“Without our hog roast we’d have to shut the shop — we don’t make enough money otherwise,” she admits.
The husband-and-wife team has made one concession to their critics, however: they’ve started vigorously cleaning up after the Saturday hog roasts, cleaning up all of the grease that accumulates on the street.
In fact, that her business is successful is good new for the community at large. As The Norfolk News reported in February, when the pie shop first opened, it occupied the site of a former pet shop; a site that might have otherwise sat empty if not for the new business. In the United Kingdom, just like in the U.S., big chain stores are forcing out some local businesses.
Meanwhile, neighbors have the Mattocks’ backs. Rebecca Booty, for example, noted that British butchers have been hanging pheasant carcasses in their shop windows for centuries.
“If you don’t like it then look away,” she says.
