Bosses at G. N. Badley & Sons butchers, in Gibbons Road, Trench, have so far prepared 570 turkeys, one tonne of sausages, 6,000 pigs in blankets, 150 joints of gammon and ham.

The orders have been coming in from residents across Telford and Shropshire as well as far afield like London and Sheffield.

And bosses have seen a huge rise in the number of orders for turkey crowns rather than a whole turkey.

Kay Badley, whose late husband Keith set up the business with his father in 1976, said there have been a few quirks this year.

She said: “We always look forward to Christmas, it is inevitably a busy time of year for us but it’s also interesting to see exactly what it is our customers are buying.

“It’s important to be able to react to what they want so we do plenty of preparation and start working longer hours to ensure it’s all ready.

“It’s unusual to see so many turkey crowns this year instead of the whole bird sold, maybe it means people are having smaller get togethers - or maybe they are watching how much they eat.

“I don’t know what the reason is but we’ve been kept busy, extending our opening hours on some days to make sure everyone gets the most delicious supplies they can to have a merry Christmas.”

The small family business looks set to make it another record breaking year for sales, as they just pip last year’s record to the post.

Managing director Simon Badley said: “We really have been busier than ever this year.
“Last year’s sales was the biggest we had seen to date so for those few extras to come in this year, we just keep expanding.

“We have a big base of customers now and thanks to our online order system we’ve seen people travelling hundreds of miles to come here and we’ve also delivered throughout the UK.

“We try to help people take the stress out of Christmas by pre-ordering food for a chosen collection date with just a £10 deposit.

“The figures are up on last year, only by a bit, but it means it is the best year since we started keeping records.”

Kay added: “We’ve introduced a few new options for this Christmas such as a new Christmas range with our party deli food, stuffed turkeys, ducks or geese as well as firm favourites such as a cooked ham joint, sausages wrapped in bacon and gala slicing pie.

“It is busy but it really gets you in the festive mood, people who place Christmas orders are collection only from our shop in Telford, which is great for us as it means we get to wish all our customers a Happy Christmas too.”

For more information on the latest products call 0808 901 2110, email info@gnbadleyandsons.co.uk or visit the website www.gnbadleyandsons.co.uk.