Butcher’s bangers are now by royal appointment

Aubrey Allen, which trades in Warwick Street, is now by royal appointment after receiving the Royal Warrant to the Queen as suppliers of meat, poultry and game.

It comes after supplying Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle and Sandringham and the Queen’s other private residences since 2007.

Royal Chef Mark Flanagan, who manages a staff of 30, including 21 chefs, has also visited Aubrey Allen’s shop and deli in Leamington to give it the once-over.

While last year sales manager Simon Smith, who first approached the Royal Chef in 2007, and Bob Spring, Aubrey Allen’s head butcher, held a meat masterclass for Mr Flanagan and his team at Buckingham Palace.

The honour will see the Queen’s coat of arms displayed on the shop sign and inside the shop, on letterheads and on product wrappers for produce which has the royal warrant.

Russell Allen, managing director of Aubrey Allen, said: “It is the ultimate honour to be awarded a Royal Warrant and represents the most prestigious stamp of quality and reliability.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to receive this recognition at the start of such a special year, which also marks our 80th anniversary celebrations for the business that my grandfather Aubrey Allen founded in 1933.

“My grandfather would have been delighted. He met one or two of the Royal Family over the years. In fact, there’s a picture of him with Princess Anne on my desk.

“It’s a great accolade for a company that was born out of a littler butchers shop in Hillfields, Coventry.

“In our 80th year and it’s Royal Leamington Spa – it all kind of fits in nicely.”

Although Russell may have royal connections, don’t expect him to spill the beans when it comes to revealing the Queen’s favourite bangers, cut of meat or game. Keeping mum, he said: “It’s pretty much taken that you don’t say what the Queen’s favourite choices are.”

The Royal Warrant, which was signed off by the Queen, came after a rigorous inspection of the company’s financial health, corporate and social policy and the environmental impact of the business after the firm applied for the honour.

Russell said: “Receiving the Royal Warrant represents a time of celebration for everyone who works across the company and highlights a very special landmark in the history of the company for my father Peter, my sisters Debbie and Lucianne and myself.

“Our relationship with the Royal Household goes way beyond the last five years and back to our first involvement with the Royal Show in 1989. We have also been supplying the Prince of Wales for the last two years and have developed close links with Princess Anne and her butcher.”

The company employs 120 in Leamington and at its butchery facility near Coventry Airport and supplies leading chefs and catering events such as weddings and runs the catering operation at the Compton Verney art 
gallery.