The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2020 - Issue 68 | Page 48

48 J BRINDON ADDY
APR/MAY 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
BRINDON ADDY –
SMALL BEGINNINGS TO
INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS
High on the Yorkshire
hills above the quaint
village of Holmfirth,
nestled on Hay Edge,
is J Brindon Addy,
traditional butchers
and graziers. Although
they are as the
name says, they are
so much more.
ADDY’S are an outstanding example of
success from hard work and small
beginnings to become the award-winning
emporium they are today.
There has always been a business on
the site. Originally it was his grandfather’s
house where initially sold foam rubber
from, it was also a traditional joiners and
undertakers. Brindon himself has always
had a passion for butchery; he had his
own cutting-up shop whilst at school
and he used to butcher for the local
farmers, as well as having a Saturday job
in a local butchers. Leaving school at
sixteen, he wanted more than anything
to have his own shop, but just couldn’t
find anywhere suitable. Not one to stand
idle, he bought a small haulage business,
which was a transit van with regular
work. Working hard at this, he kept the
business up for two years. Then, whilst
running the haulage business and still
nurturing the dream of having his own
butcher’s shop, he went onto study Meat
Technology at Thomas Danby, and then
worked as a trainee manager at a local
bacon factory. The job did not suit him,
so he managed to find a job with a small,
family-owned butcher. He remained
there until he was twenty-three, by which
time he had saved some money and
decided to hand in his notice and take
the plunge at going it alone with his own
business.
So finally, at age twenty-three back in
1993, which seems like yesterday and not
twenty-seven years ago(!), Brindon was
able to set up his shop in what was his old
cutting room, along with his friend David
Cannon, who said that if he set up the
business he would come and work for
him. The first shop was a pretty primitive
going-on, with equipment bought from a
bankrupt butcher in Leeds. Right from the
off, Brindon had what he retains to this
day, passion for what he does, a desire
to give the very best and an unstoppable,
infectious enthusiasm.
Although the shop was small, he fondly
remembers his first three weeks takings:
£700, £1400 and £1600. From thereon
in, the business steadily grew. Brindon