The Farmers Mart Aug/Sep 2016 - Issue 47 | Page 64

H Copley

Thriving in Golcar
In these days of huge shopping malls and cut price supermarkets, it is
great to see farm shops flourishing as well as the welcome resurgence of
independent local shops - none more so than H Copley butchers of Golcar.
» IAN WILKINSON MET
owner Howard Copley and his
star apprentice, Jordan Fretwell
to find out why.
Although Howard has
had the business for around
six years, there has been a
thriving butcher’s here for 30
years or more. It was originally
M&V Thewliss. Like so many
businesses in this sector, it is
an interesting story: Howard
started at 16 as a ‘YTS’ in the
meat dept at Sainsbury’s –
thanks to his talent for the job,
very quickly becoming head
butcher and then manager of
the dept at the ripe old age
of 21. It’s a job Howard has
always enjoyed but his father
was a qualified butcher so it
is in his genes. After seven
years as head of butchery,
Sainsbury’s moved him to the
bakery side which again, he

excelled at and managed for
two years. Another string to
his bow was a spell in charge
of fruit and vegetables at the
big Shorehead branch, before
finally moving back to meat at
Halifax.
Then, as often is the case
with large corporations,
Howard became tired of the
bureaucracy and being a
small cog in a big machine so
he took the leap of faith and
went for the big change - this
coincided with his father retiring
from the NHS and buying a
smallholding.
Howard helped his father
with the smallholding where
they started buying and selling
cows and stores for finishing.
Howard comes from a farming
background and used to have
a smallholding himself. Many
are the times he has helped

64 Aug/Sep 2016 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

friends and local farmers in
Slaithwaite so he has always
been around livestock. They
used to have around 15 to 20
head at any one time. At the
moment they are down to about
six as there has been illness
within the family and Howard’s
time is more than taken with the
shop.
Initially, Howard worked for
a building company for two
years; again he took to this as
it seems to be the case that
being around farming tends to
make you versatile. So when
the financial crash came and
there was only work for two
days a week, Howard - being
the enterprising individual he
is - did a number of things, not
least developing a large carrot
wholesaling sideline.
Howard initially joined
Thewliss’s but after two years

left again as there was not
enough work to sustain two
people. Sometime afterwards
Howard received a call from Mr
Thewlis asking Howard to come
back as his health was fading
and he was struggling to cope.
Very quickly roles reversed
where Howard was running
the shop with Mr Thewlis doing
what he could.
So six years ago Howard
bought the shop and H Copley
was now Golcar’s local butcher.
Howard’s experience and skill
gained at Sainsbury’s stood
him in great stead as during
the past six years this shop
has simply never stood still.
Very quickly more and more
customers starting shopping
at Copleys, and as ever
,customers only stay and grow
in numbers if the service and
produce are right. Howard is