The areas with the fewest butchers per person have been revealed as industry experts say that these high street staples are disappearing. Several factors have contributed to the struggles faced by butchers over the last number of years, including the rising cost of red meat and the increased business costs like National Insurance and energy. A map has revealed the counties and regions where butchers and abattoirs are few and far between.

Since 2010, more than 1,000 of these businesses have closed across the UK. The number of butchers in the UK has generally been shrinking over the last few years, according to data sources such as Statista. According to a recent analysis by The Mail, more than 20 local authorities have five or fewer butchers and abattoirs, figures described as "damning".

The counties that have lost the most butchers and abattoirs are Lancashire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire, which lost around 70, 60, and 45, respectively. The analysis is based on NOMIS Business Counts data, with the number of butchers and abattoirs rounded to the nearest five.

The region that has the fewest butchers and abattoirs per 100,000 people is the Vale of White Horse in Oxfordshire, with a total of zero in the area.

"It is pretty alarming how quickly butchers and abattoirs are disappearing," an industry expert said. "The decline doesn't only impact the person who owns the abattoir, it affects the farmers who want to have their animals slaughtered a certain way.

"It's a threat to not only the meat industry but the agriculture, rural areas and the UK's food security as a whole."

Several butchers shut for good in 2025, including the family-run Thompsons Butchers in Cardiff. Locals expressed their sadness after the neighbourhood staple closed in July, with one person telling the Penarth Times: "I’ve used Thompson's Penarth for all my meat purchases for over 36 years and am devastated that it has had to close."

The BBC has reported that Britain had a total of 2,500 abattoirs in the 1970s. By 2023, this had fallen to just 203.

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has warned that the closure of small and medium-sized abattoirs would be "detrimental" to the UK farming industries and rural communities. 

"As well as the social and welfare benefits they bring, smaller and localised abattoirs provide vital business to farmers, butchers and rural communities, including private kill services that support direct sales to consumers," said Annabel Twinberrow, livestock, retail and consumer analyst at AHDB.