"The authentic, original farm shop." In the middle of nowhere, my sister swore by this place so we…read moreswung by it on the way home from Ards Shopping Centre. I say we swung by it, that makes the journey sound simple, but it was anything but. We travelled about 50 (slight exaggeration) winding country roads and at one point I began to question the existence of this farm butchers and in turn began to question my big sis's sanity. We finally found it and I had to eat my words...again... The blurb on the website says; "Known locally as Drumhilla Farm, our home is on the farm, our shop is on the farm and our heart is on the farm. We take pride in our top class breeding, state-of-the-art facilities and an exemplar farm." This is absolutely bang on, we did get a warm welcome and we came away with some top quality meat at an even better price. I was informed that the butchers has loads of contracts with local restaurants, so if you have eaten out in North Down you may well have sampled the top class meat Corries offers. The farm shop is your best bet if you want to replicate the restaurant experience in your own home, they always have deals on for instance when we went in they had Chump Steak - 3.79plb 8.36pkg Mince Steak (5lb or over) - 1.99plb 4.39pkg. You can not really argue with these deals. Corries is well worth the trek and you will reap the benefits of your journey when you sit down to a tender slab of meat at the dinner table.

Veggies beware, Primacy Meats Food Village kind of give the game away with their name. It started…read morelife as a butcher and farm shop and is mostly a carnivore's paradise. That said there is plenty of fresh fruit and veg in the shop as well. Although Bangor has an abundance of butchers, this one has joined the growing trend of having a coffee shop/restaurant attached. The food in here is good quality using on site ingredients for good prices. You can get a hearty feed for £5. Unlike other reviewers I find Primacy to be one of the cheapest butchers in Bangor (maybe its more to do with what I buy) and they have good meat packs available which offer decent discount for bulk buying. Some of the other products on offer in the shop can be pricey though. I also think their meat is great quality and well tasty. The staff are all great. Friendly and happy to provide help and advice.

Primacy Meats used to be a small family run butchers with a small farm shop that probably stocked…read moreproduce 2 years past its sell by date. But within the last 3 years it has grown, matured and developed into a super butchers. It now boasts a coffee shop, gift shop and fruit and veg shop, its like when one of your friends comes into money and completely changes. They get a brand new house (shop) build big iron gates and lose all personality. Although I think I may just be bitter because I felt a certain affinity with the old Primacy meats. It is rather over priced compared to its competitors and it feels like it is trying to hard to be the best. With the awards it has won there is no wonder that it has developed an ego. Northern Irelands Butcher of the year 2009 is one of these accolades but trust me if you want reasonably priced meat I would stay away from the Primacy. The staff are friendly and polite and they will even throw in an extra dog bone with your purchases. But if they get any more expensive the dog will be missing out and I will be chewing on the bone. It is a great location, out of town and if you fancy something different for lunch then you should visit the coffee shop, it is a little more reasonable. Parking is fantastic but it does get busy in BBQ season and you may have to queue out the door.

McGee's Butchers is located in Ards Shopping centre but is another one of those butchers that is…read moresandwiched between High Street fashion outlets such as Next and River Island. To be honest I find the location of this place really strange, who thinks yeah I will just pop into Next to get a shirt, River Island to get some jeans and then off to McGee's so grab a few pounds of mince. It just seems odd that a butchers that has all the qualities of a traditional market stall is in such a strange location. McGee's faces competition from Asda and Tesco which are both in extremely close proximity. The way it chooses to deal with the competition is simple. It continually strives to offer the best cuts of meat while putting on promotions to lure in passing customers. These promotions and offers include BBQ packs and different sets of burgers because after all variety is the spice of life. Despite its odd location I can not really argue with the dedicated service McGee's provides to the people of Ards.

There is plenty of butchers in town, well established ones as well as the ones based in the large…read moresupermarkets. This place has been around for a couple of years and has an amazing reputation. A friend of mine briefly worked in here so we all checked it out when it first opened and have been back lots of times. They have a massive selection of meats including the usual chicken, pork, lamb, beef as well as other stuff that you may not expect from a butchers. You can get ready made meals that you can stick into the old oven and there you go - you have a meal for as many people as you need. The prices are good and the staff are knowledgable and helpful. It's based right in Bloomfield Shopping Centre so there is plenty of good parking and ATMs near by.

You know you're a grown up when you get excited by a butchers shop. Or maybe it's because I can't…read morecook that I love McGees as this is a butchers which sells all manner of ready to cook meat and non meat meals which aren't heavily processed. You can get every day meals like a whole chicken ready prepared with potatoes and veg - just shove it in the oven and 2 hours later you've got a family dinner. There's also chicken gougons, stuffed chicken breasts and chicken stir fries ready done with veg and sauces. The beef is fantastic and only comes from one farm in County Tyrone which uses the most animal welfare conscious methods possible. I think that's important these days and I also think the beef tastes all the better for it. Quite often if we're entertaining, I buy the main course from McGees. I don't actually lie and say I have made it myself, but if no-one asks, I sure ain't telling. I have done stuffed pork fillet and rack of lamb which come beautifully prepared and just go straight in the oven. To complete your meal, whether a week day tea or a dinner party, McGees also do lush little garlic potatoes, chilli potatoes and packs of stir fry veg. Prices are great too, for example the complete chicken dinner is £7 which you really couldn't beat by making it all from scratch yourself.