Have a butcher’s at this!
IT was a name that was once familiar on high streets and town centres right across our region and beyond. There were few towns in the Black Country that did not have at least one branch of the famous chain of butcher’s shops, Marsh and Baxter.
It is more than 40 years since the Marsh and Baxter factory in Brierley Hill closed and their shops disappear from our streets but we have a reminder of the old business thanks to Councillor David Stanley, the former Mayor of Dudley, whom many readers will know was a butcher himself.
He still has a few Marsh and Baxter carrier bags, made from heavy brown paper with string handles, rather than the thin plastics we have now. Both sides are printing with the bold Marsh’s logo, while one side promotes the company’s famous sausages, once exported all over the world, and the other their equally popular pork pies.
Another memento that Councillor Stanley has kept for several decades are some sheets of Marsh and Baxter branded grease-proof paper, in which shoppers’ purchases would have been wrapped. These are printed with the company’s royal warrant.
In 1867 Alfred Marsh purchased a pork butchers shop in High Street, Brierley Hill, opposite the police station, from E.J. Smart, a provisions merchant. His intention was to slaughter pigs and to sell products manufactured from them.
After a short period Marsh realised the possibilities and the business acumen of centralizing slaughtering and production, and branching out by using the waste by-products from pigs and other animals.
Over the years, as the business grew, more premises and land was purchased in High Street and the adjoining Hall Street, until eventually a large factory complex was built.
As trade expanded Alfred Marsh formed a partnership with A.R. Baxter, who had premises and a similar business in Dale End, Birmingham.
After a few years (1912 or thereabouts) Baxter died and his relatives, who did not wish to pursue the venture, sold their interest in the company to Alfred Marsh.
The company flourished and further land between High Street, Moor Street, Bell Street, and Hall Street in Brierley Hill, including the old Moor Street Board School, was purchased, part of the school being used for the canteen which supplied good old fashioned wholesome meals using many of the products produced in the factory.
The company grew quite rapidly and during the late 1930s as many as 4,000 pigs a week were slaughtered (in 1939 between 5,000 and 6,000 pigs slaughtered). The pork, bacon, pies, sausages and other products were sold nationwide and the company had an extensive network of shops across the Midlands.
What are your memories of Marsh and Baxter? Please drop us a line – address details on page 2.