Sitting opposite Principal Meats, M & B doesn't come across as being as "traditional" as Principal,…read morebut does offer a fantastic variety of multi buy meat trays. You can pick up anything you want, from whole chickens, legs of lamb, bellies of pork and even (gulp) rabbit. And it all tends to come in good value multi buy options. If you live near here, you've got no excuse not to pick up your meats from one of these two establishments. And if your a bit of a walk away (like me) its well worth the extra effort to come down here and see what your money can buy! I particularly like the budget bacon slices... Dice them up with some pickled chopped olives, gherkins or cornichons and mix into a tomato sauce (crack in some sun-dried tomato purée while your at it), and enjoy a savory salty sauce or topping... Cheap and tasty! Don't be afraid of the larger bits of meat and all, as they're just as easy to cook as anything else, they just take a little longer.

I'll put it out there; i'm a Principal Meats man, so I can't help but be a little mixed about this…read moreplace. Upon stepping in, I always feel a little bit awkward; the deep room looks somewhat intimidating and cold, with the meat counter and staff looking down at you. I've made that sound a bit Stephen King, so i'll move on. Food quality wise, it's at a lower end of the market than Principal, although they do sell a few more specialist items like Quail's eggs. Equally, they also sell basic price cheese and a few other dubious items. Not bad for a local butcher however, and it is always good to have a bit of competition.

Sorry Canham and Sons, but there's a new 'best butcher' in town!…read more I'm so happy I decided to pop into this little shop on a whim, because the Village Butcher is exactly the kind of traditional experience I've been looking for. The owner is the jolliest butcher you'll ever meet, and made my husband and I feel more than welcome, even though it was nearly closing time. Chatting with him made me feel like I had accidentally walked into a day's filming of the BBC series 'The High Street', because it certainly appeared like I had gone back in time to the days when the butcher was an important member of the community, and treated you like family. But I digress - on to the review! :) The shop is small and very clean, and has a very large variety of locally sourced and organic meats, offal and homemade sausages. I know next to nothing about cooking meat but the owner was more than happy to discuss preparation techniques and recipes, and help us decide which cuts which might like best. Next to the meat counter is another display full of homemade pies and puddings, and we bought a Steak and Stilton pie to snack on while we walked home, and Steak and Kidney pudding for dinner. That Steak and Stilton pie was the BEST PIE I HAVE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. The meat was soft, tender and melt-in-your-mouth gorgeous, the gravy flavourful and sweet, the pastry buttery and delicious - seriously, the Best Pie EVER. I'd also never really liked boiled puddings before, but their Steak and Kidney one was amaaaaaaaaazing - again, the meat was gloriously tender and the suet was fluffy and SO TASTY, utterly unlike any other puddings I'd ever eaten. I cannot rave enough about how delicious their food is! And best of all - not only do you get all this incredible food and friendly, attentive personalized service - but they also DELIVER. Anywhere in Brighton! How could you possibly choose anyone else? :)

There's two cures for the clocks going forward and winter arriving:…read more The 1st - Hop on a plane to Australia or somewhere else where it's still warm and sunny. The 2nd - Pop into Brighton Sausage Co and pick up a bag full of their home-made, hearty bangers. If you go for option 2, take them home, fry them in a pan with a nob of butter and eat them with a large dollop of mash and red onion gravy. Honestly, you'll feel much better.

This shop is pretty cool. Obviously the focus is upon sausages and sell a wide range from classics…read morelike pork and apple to more exotic curry varieties. I have only popped in here once and was needing a quick bite to eat. They sold me an excellent beef and horseradish sausage roll and it was nice to see it served in the traditional way as sausage meat wrapped in a cone of pastry, rather than the packaged varieties that are more pastry than sausage. They also have a range of deli style ingredients, including quality olive oils and balsamic vinegars. The guy manning the shop was a good bloke and happy to recommend his top picks of the sausages available. I would certainly come here to get my snags if I was cooking up a sausage and mash and was looking to impress. You could almost class this as a movement bringing quality and care back to the humble sausage. Hurrah!

I walked into this sliver of a shop and was surrounded with beautiful cuts of raw lamb and beef, a…read morehappily chugging espresso machine, crispy rolls of mustard and sausage, and the fucking baddest Clotted Cream Strawberry Scone. I sat down on a bench in front of All Saints church with my heated mustard sausage roll, piping hot coffee, and the fucking baddest Clotted Cream Strawberry Scone. I opened the lid of my coffee and unwrapped the mustard sausage roll encased in buttery pastry leaves. I closed my eyes and guided the sausage roll into my mouth. Church bells tolled while I rolled the balls of mustard around my tongue, the sausage melting in my mouth. I couldn't wait any longer, I gently laid the bitten sausage roll aside, took a sip of hot coffee to clear my mouth and turned full attention to the fucking baddest Clotted Cream Strawberry Scone. Oh Sweet Lord, lord lord, lord lord!!! A round scone appx 3" in diameter had been delicately sliced in half. A plop of clotted cream had been slathered on one side, freshly sugared and corn starched strawberries had been put on the other side, then combined to make the baddest fucking sandwich type fucking goddamn fuck i love you thing in the world. I carefully separated one of the halves of scone, shook loose the strawberries, slathered clotted cream, then placed strawberries on top. I took a bite and the scone perfectly burst into crisps, my tongue swirled and spread the soul-satisfying clotted cream against the roof of my mouth, then the tang and sweet of the strawberries puckered my salivary glands into fruition. GOD DAMN!!!! This store is tiny and fucking earnest and I love Jesus and the UK for it.

Just awesome the quality of the meat is sublime. Whoever creates the wonderful dishes they sell…read moredeserves an Oscar. Really fantastic. If you like real food buy food there

This is the place to buy your meat if you want to impress your dinner guests. On my first encounter…read morewith Bramptons I needed to procure some mince meat to cook meatballs. When the mince was handed over, the butcher warned me, 'make sure you eat that in the next day or so or it'll go off - it aint got any preservatives in it'. We ate the meatballs that night and were pretty impressed. Following my initial success, I splashed out on some lamb chops. These, I was told, were reared on the Sussex Downs which can only add to the enjoyment of the food knowing the meat hasn't been festering in a lorry freezer for 24 hours. If your on a tight budget to feed a large household then you may find it difficult to buy here but if you have the money and love your local produce, I don't think you'll find a better butchers in the area.

Bramptons is a fantastic traditional butchers and cheese shop in Kemptown…read more The full array of meat products is available here - beef, lamb, pork - in various cuts, including their own sausages. It's a real pleasure to watch the butchers here at work - they clearly have a great pride and skill in their work. So different to picking up some pre-packaged factory farmed stuff from the supermarket shelf. The prices aren't cheap, but you know you are getting well sourced, humanely reared produce. The cheese shop also has a good range, including lots of local cheeses you won't find anywhere else.

Sitting directly opposite the road from M & B Meats, I'd recommend Principal Meats to anyone who…read morelikes a more traditional Butchers. Sitting somewhere between the Deli at a Sainsbury or Tesco and a more traditional food market, Principal offers decent quality meat at discounted prices, with friendly and approachable staff behind the till to help you with your order. A particularly good deal came in the form of three packs of 600g mince meat... They only cost a fiver. A bit on the fatty side undeniably, but better than Sainsbury's basics range and ideal for making burgers or curries, where the fat helps cook/flavour your meal. Alternatively you can always brown the mince, and poor the excess fat away... Enough random tips though! A good honest butcher awaits!

It's always nice to see independent butchers still surviving against the supermarket giants. They…read morealso supply a lot of the pubs with their stock. The shop is manned by a bunch of 'classic' butcher types who look like they have been in the meat trade for a long time. They have a good selection of cuts to buy at pretty cheap prices and make a lot of good sausages. I would have liked to see a bit more information about the origin of the meat, but the shop is clean and would certainly hold up to any FSA inspection. If you pop in near the end of business you can usually talk yourself into a cheeky discount. I have used better butchers in my time, but if I was in the area and needing something to knock up a meal I know I could do worse than shop at principal.

This butchery is the best I have ever visited, anywhere I have ever lived. I used to live up the…read morehill from Westdene Butchers. Trevor and crew were always totally friendly and helpful and the place was always clean. Their chili sticks are the best on Earth and their biltong is great. Their cutlets were always choice and fresh. Their sausages are awesome, and were a perfect substitute for the Cajun sausage and Andouille that I grew up eating. I moved away from Brighton, but the reason I am looking this up now is to see if I can get chili sticks shipped to me, abroad.

Westdene Butchers is well worth a visit. I'm lucky enough to live close. The guys there are really…read morefriendly, very knowledgeable and care about their trade. My favourites are the chicken kebabs they make up for the summer: great value and really tasty. My sister always buys up their pies in bulk when she visits Brighton!

M&S Simply Food at Brighton Station is one of the few shops inside the station concourse, it is…read moreprobably one of the better places in the station to grab some to-go food and drinks ahead of a train journey, with rivals Superdrug and WHSmith barely having a food selection, and PRET being the only other place which sells food, but even then they sell a limited menu compared to other stores. This is pretty different from other M&S Simply Food stores as it is a travel store, they specialise in to go food and drinks at really high prices, as I recall a meal deal cost around £5 which is £1.50 more than a regular store, an increase of around 42.8%. I understand travel stores can cost more because of the location, but this seems to just take it a little step further, knowing there is little competition elsewhere in the station and it is from the Marks and Spencer brand, which has a reputation for being towards the higher-end scale for food anyway. The gluten-free selection was awful, they didn't have any wraps or pasta pots which stores usually have, they had two varieties of sandwiches, even then this is quite poor for a Marks and Spencer store, who have much more to choose from. I personally have a strong hate for seeded bread, which is why it frustrates me to see so many places only offering gluten-free sandwiches on seeded bread, and this location is sadly no different. A useful store, but they really do need to work on making pricing much more reasonable and stock of gluten-free items, which Marks and Spencer are usually pretty good here, so this branch is pretty rare in that sense. 2*

Y'know those long journeys when you've been travelling for hours and just want to get home, pull on…read moreyour PJs and eat something warm and homely? Well, if your train pulls in at Brighton Station you can pick up a roasted chicken, mashed potato and asparagus from the M&S Simply Food. They're open til 11pm every day except Sunday and also sell staples like bread, milk, yoghurt, fruit and juice. Of course, Marks and Spencer is always slightly more expensive than other grocery stores but the food is usually of such good quality it makes up for the extra pennies. If you're super-tired, you can also pick up muffins and coffee for breakfast the next day!