Victory for butchers given permission to sell meat outside Bristol shopping centre

Butchers have won permission to sell meat from their van outside a Bristol shopping centre following a swell of public support.

South Gloucestershire councillors granted a street trading licence for Mark and Steve’s Mobile Butchers next to Iceland at the Kings Chase mall in Kingswood despite an objection from the local authority’s street care team on the grounds of public safety and nuisance.

The owners had intended to withdraw the application and find another location on the assumption it would be refused but a licensing hearing went ahead in their absence anyway because they were told they would not be entitled to a refund of their fee, the sub-committee heard.

The panel approved the permit to trade from 8am to 3pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays after hearing 20 public statements of support had been received since the formal consultation period closed, following a story by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

An officer in the street care team objected, saying cleaners could not get their sweeper machine around the van at its spot in Regent Street.

A customer told the meeting on Monday, January 8, that there were no other butchers in Kingswood and that the van was an “asset” to the area because it sold meat that was difficult to find in supermarkets, such as goat and offal.

Councillors added a condition to the application by Steve Godwin, officially trading as SG Mobile Butchers, to remove any rubbish and sweep the immediate area around the van at the end of each trading day.