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Britain's Oldest Family Business Is Still Going Strong - After 500 Years And 26 Generations

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Many family firms get the chop after a decade or three.

But that’s not the case for this butcher’s shop - that’s passed through 26 generations and has now incredibly celebrated its 500th birthday.

RJ Balson and Son is officially Britain’s oldest family firm.

It began life as a market stall in Bridport, Dorset, in 1515 - the year that Thomas Wolsey was made a cardinal during the reign of Henry VIII.

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Since then it’s survived floods, fires, plagues, two world wars, recessions and fierce competition from supermarkets.

But half a millennium later, the shop is still thriving and this month celebrated its 500th year of serving locals with sausages and bacon.

Current owner Richard Balson, 58, said: “One of the reasons we’re still in business is that we’ve kept it small.

"The temptation is to add another shop or two, but you can only really keep an eye on one shop at any one time.

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"People come in and they know they will get a friendly, personal service. Nine times out of 10 I know what people want before they come in.

"We’ve served people’s mothers, fathers, grandparents. We really play on that, and our customers love that interaction.”

The business was founded in 1515 by Robert Balson in the market shambles in Bridport - less than a mile away from where it is now.

Christopher Columbus had only discovered America 23 years earlier and it would be another 261 years before the declaration of independence by the United States.

For almost 400 years the butchers moved between the town hall, pubs and markets before they settled in their small shop to the west of the town.

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They have occupied their current premises since 1892 - the same year that Liverpool Football Club was founded.

The business has since been passed down through the Balson family to Richard, who lives a mile away and opens the shop at 6.30am everyday.

As well as around 1,000 orders a month during the peak summer period, the shop has customers from as far away as America buying its bangers online.

They offer exotic meats including kangaroo, elk, boar, ostrich and bison as well as game such as pheasant, duck and guinea fowl.

But they still have two products made from secret families recipes which they have been selling since the Tudor times - their English pork sausages and home recipe faggots.

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Richard started working at the shop 40 years ago when his father Donald, who passed away in 2011, was master butcher.

The father-of-one said sausages were still their most popular produce with 20 different varieties in addition to the original pork recipe handed through the generations.

“We could just be a sausage shop if we wanted to. We have had to diversify as lifestyles have changed so much and people nowadays want to cook things that take just 20 minutes,” he said.

The family had long-thought the business started in 1535 - the year before Anne Boleyn was beheaded.

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But recent research by experts for a TV programme revealed it actually began 20 years earlier.

The shop celebrated its 500th anniversary on September 12 with a party in aid of Cancer Research, raising £5,000.

Richard has also released a book called “500 years behind the block” to mark the milestone.

But he said he has no plans to retire any time soon - even though there are already two generations who could take over.

(Pictures credited to SWNS)