A BUTCHER has celebrated his tenth year in business in Potters Bar.

Dave Butler spoke to the Potters Bar Edition this week, having run Readers Butchers, in Darkes Lane, for the past decade.

Looking back on his time in the town, the 61-year-old said: “It has been good.

“Everybody is very pleasant; I have served some lovely people here. There have been lots of new customers as well as old.”

His co-worker, Chris Wiggins, 23, added: “It is brilliant, I really enjoy it.

“Everyone seems very friendly around here.”

Dave, who is originally from Barnet, admitted he had observed a drop in footfall in Darkes Lane since the recession.

He said: “I think there has been a downturn in the street since Woolworths left; that is the biggest thing to hit this part of town.”

But Dave, who lives in Hitchin, also blames the rapacity of landlords for the number of shops which currently lie vacant in Darkes Lane.

“Landlords here are getting greedy,” he said.

“If all the landlords go down the same route we won’t have any shops here at all.”

Over the past decade, Dave has also had to deal with the rise of the out of town supermarkets.

But despite the convenience and later opening hours that these shops offer, he said customers had refused to desert his business.

“The meat we offer is of a different quality,” he said.

“All my meat is free range and British.

“It has stood us in good stead all this time, so we won’t change it now.”