Faithful butcher kept Fifers fed in lockdown

Fife butcher Bryan Beveridge took over his Dunfermline shop on March 1 2020. Three weeks later the country was in lockdown and the 56-year-old needed a new plan.

That’s when he came up with the idea of a delivery service – not just for Dunfermline, but many of the west Fife villages too. He bought a new van and started taking orders to people who were selfisolating. Before long, many customers were asking him to pick up other bits of shopping for them en route.

“Some asked if I could get them a half loaf, so I did that on my way,” he said.

“Then they asked for veg to go with their meat, so we introduced that in the shop. It became a one-stop shop – getting their meat, getting fruit and veg, and sometimes stopping for a half loaf. Before I knew it, I was doing 100 plus deliveries a week. It was absolutely manic.”

Bryan, from Glenrothes, is well-known to customers because he worked in the shop for over 25 years, earning the trust of many Fife residents. Most of the people looking for help were older, and many were shielding.

“They didn’t want to leave their houses, far less go to supermarkets.

“Deliveries aren’t common practice for butchers. I’ve never done it in all the shops I’ve worked in over 42 years,” Bryan said.

It wasn’t just deliveries that were busy. The High Street shop was suddenly more popular than ever.

“Most businesses shut overnight but we were open right through,” he said.

“It was absolutely manic. We did Christmas turnover every week for about three months. We had to take on another two members of staff.”

Bryan says his nine staff members went above and beyond the call of duty throughout lockdown.

“It was kind of weird in Dunfermline because we were the only shop that was open,” he said.

“We could only have six customers in the shop at a time so we’d think it was quiet. But when we looked outside, the queue was 200 yards long. We’d work until closing then do another two hours making up the delivery bags for the next day.”

Bryan added: “We never ran out of produce. All our cattle and pork is from the central belt so availability has never been an issue. We’ve managed to retain our customer base and boost turnover by 20-25%.

“The delivery service is still in place to this day.”

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COMMITTED: Bryan Beveridge celebrates the dedication of his team, who offered up general shopping deliveries to locals. Pictures by Steve Brown.

Bryan was able to keep his Dunfermline High Street shop open throughout the pandemic.