When a Charles Butcher customer was recently asked for its owners’ contact details, she replied she was “heartbroken” about its closure after half a century of service.

It is not the expected reaction to the closing down of a shop that sells meat.

And the extent of the feedback – and “sadness” – that followed the announcement “shocked” brothers Victor and Manuel Grech even though they had dedicated the last 50 years to the renowned Naxxar butcher and had built strong ties, spanning three generations, along the way.

Located in Naxxar's main square, Charles Butcher is considered an integral landmark and customers have commented about using it as a reference point to give directions and described it as a “Maltese monument”.

This week, the gentlemanly Grechs will serve their loyal clientele – often families they have seen grow – for the last time. It is a bittersweet feeling for Victor, who really needs a good rest before embarking on a new chapter.

At 64, it is time for retirement after a physically hard job nobody in the family wanted to take on, working long hours since the age of 15.

That was when he “automatically” stepped into the butcher business, opened elsewhere 70 years ago by his father, Carmel, whose mother had had her own butcher.

They learned the trade from him and have never looked back since.

“We have been starting work at 5am every day, doing a minimum of 65 hours a week,” Victor said, adding the brothers never argued once, had no major hiccups along the way and never considered quitting.

Hands-on Victor had to be at the shop if he was around, so the only way to get him away was to go abroad, his wife, Jane jokingly complained.

“But summer and Christmas were particularly busy times. So, although I cannot say I did not live, I wish I could say I had more free time and we probably did not get to travel enough.”

While customers sent messages of “sadness” about the closure, they have also wished the brothers a well-deserved retirement, which Victor and Manuel had been mulling for over a year.

Brand name to carry on, albeit with new owners

The outlet is now up for rental and, ideally, it is taken over by another experienced butcher to keep it going.

In fact, the Charles Butcher name is being trademarked and the plan is to sell the business with goodwill. While it remained successful, the problem was no one in the Grech family wanted to take on the butcher baton.

“Our daughters got a good education and they all have good jobs,” said Victor about the end of an era.

It is hard to draw out of the modest man the reasons for such an outpouring of emotions at the announcement of the closure.

Pushed, he puts it down to the trust people had in them and, maybe, the secret ingredient was the “consistency”.

Staff had last changed 16 years ago.

Apart from the quality – they never scrimped on that, preferring to spend more for better – it was also the personal relationship they built with customers.

The owners were always on the shop floor, a rare work ethic nowadays.

The first shop sign. Photos: Chris Sant Fournier

It certainly was not about embracing modern technology; Charles Butcher never went online, not even during the pandemic.

Nevertheless, COVID-19 was their busiest time ever, with restaurants closed. They were so busy they would not have coped with more than taking orders on the phone for pick-ups.

Now, customers have to break that generational chain and build that rapport with someone else and Victor acknowledges it will be a case of “trial and error” until they find the right fit.

He, too, will have to find his own trusted butcher but he has not thought about it yet and prefers not to answer whether it would be an ‘honour’ for the chosen one.

Charles Butcher was big on burgers and sausages although Victor cannot explain why.

“We did not do anything special except use good-quality meat and keep it natural,” he says.

It was also the pioneer of a variety of sausages as it moved away from the typical version to create around 12 new tastes and add a twist to barbecues.

Other meat milestones include the introduction of the South African boerewors when Victor came across an interesting recipe.

At the time, there were very few South Africans here but that all changed and,  today, they are craving their sausage and bemoaning the closure too.

Charles Butcher did not just attract meat lovers from Naxxar and its surroundings. They regularly came from everywhere, including Gozo.

And its traditional Maltese sausages travelled overseas too, with several requests to vacuum pack them for transport in their luggage to share with family and friends abroad.

Charles Butcher as it stands today. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

In recent years, the brothers have seen changes, with the rise of vegetarianism, veganism and a host of allergies, although these have not affected sales drastically.

The “fussiness”, however, was putting people off throwing big dinner parties and barbecues, Victor maintained, as hosts have to cook different items to accommodate different guests.

The rising price of meat was also a big headache and people were being more cautious, buying cheaper cuts and asking for the price before purchasing, Victor conceded.

“It is fair enough but it never used to happen,” he said.

Unusual until around 10 years ago was also having a shop full of men.

Today, many have career wives and have taken over kitchens, also taking over the shop on a Saturday morning, Victor noted about changes in society reflected at the butcher’s.

The scenario is changing in the Naxxar square too as an 80-year-old coffee shop, an old pharmacy and the football club bar also “coincidentally “shut their doors, heightening the nostalgia.

But Victor is confident they will reopen in different forms as he thinks of the next step for him too.

His father never believed in advertising and relied on word of mouth. He also insisted all customers should be treated equally, knowing that even those who did not spend much money could recommend Charles Butcher to a wealthy client.

The brothers kept that up. But their last advert in Times of Malta recently was a good move.

Picked up by other media outlets, it was a story in itself and caused a stir.