102-year-old family butchers R.H Binks and Sons reopens following complete refurb

R.H Binks and Sons reopened last week following three weeks of work to completely renovate the interior.

New flooring, ceiling tiles and plaster were put in as well as new counters and refrigerators installed.

Owner Jack Binks said: “The reopening was fantastic and well received.

"We had a number of new faces that live in the village but had never been in before that we hope will return for our quality produce.

"It was a full shop refurbishment. We had the counters. the walls, the ceilings and floors all ripped out.

"The old plastic cladding has gone. The vinyl floor and mucky ceiling tiles have gone and replaced with a new non-slip floor and tiles.

"Everything was taken back to brick and it has been completely rewired, the shop has a brand new look and feeling to it."

Jack is the fifth generation to own the family butchers.

The business started out as a dairy farm in 1920 and transformed into a butchers before Jack’s great-granddad bought the shop on Bradford Road in 1957, where it still stands.

Jack said the shop “probably last went under refurbishment 50 years ago” and it had been added to over the years but the space was “never properly maximised before”.

He said: “My great-grandad bought the site for my grandfather, Cyril John ‘Jack’ Binks, and his twin brother, Harold.

"I started looking after the business about five years ago after moving back from university.

"My dad, Donald, and I are still partners in the business but he doesn’t really get involved in the shop anymore unless he needs to cover from me when I go on holiday.

"He still does all the buying for the shop. He had a knife in his hand since he was six-years-old, it is all he has ever known.”

The shop employs half a dozen staff and stocks locally produced gin and spirits, cheese and fish from Tarbett’s Fishmongers based in Chapel Allerton and Leeds Market.

For more information, visit R.H Binks and Sons on Facebook www.facebook.com/RHBinksandSons.