(Hillside is an animal sanctuary which carries out investigations under cover)

The Red Lion Abattoir

The Red Lion Abattoir in Nantwich is being shut down from 12 noon today. This is following Hillside's recent exposure of cruelty to horses and serious slaughterhouse breaches which the FSA are investigating along with passport and traceability irregularities there. Strangely though, the Food Standards Agency is claiming the slaughterhouse is being closed due to infrastructure problems!

BREAKING NEWS...
For horse slaughterhouse update
see Sky News today....

Brilliant news!

Glad to hear that, but where are they going to open up next?

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, the whole world would be vegetarian.

obviously its a worry that some animals may have to travel further, but one can only hope that those slaughter houses and any replacements created, are better at keeping to welfare rules and regs then the Red Lion one. Theres a small slaughter house on the Chester Rd Nr New Ferry. Maybe they will pick up some new local trade.

My old man used to work in the Woodside Lairage and the abbatoir on New Chester Road, used to take his lunch down to him. None of it ever worried me even though it was a bit gory. I don't remember seeing any cruelty as such even though there were loads of fellahs working there. I think the Jewish slaughter methods were the only ones I found myself being a bit squeamish at, I think Halal meat is produced the same way. That did seem cruel but that's the way it goes.

When I was little, my Dads mate Billy worked at the Lairage and periodically used to bring us small parcels of such unwanted delicacies as sweetbreads . Quite nice they were actually tossed in seasoned flour and panfried. We also ate rather a lot of tripe too!That was delicious with onions in a creamy sauce. Not up for it now, but I can remember it like yesterday. Mum had little money and was thrilled with the unwanted offal.

Tripe is lovely, done in milk in a frying pan with chopped onions. its good for you too.

Hey Bandy....did you know that if you stand near to where the Lairage was at Woodside, at the banks of the Mersey and on a dark night, you can still hear the moans and scared calls of the cattle, as if it was yesterday?

Those huge, beautiful,creatures slaughtered for our Sunday dinner.

Maybe they are answering Mary!

The Sands Of Dee
Charles Kingsley

‘O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.’
The western wind was wild and dark with foam,
And all alone went she.

The western tide crept up along the sand,
And o’er and o’er the sand,
And round and round the sand,
As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.

‘O is it weed, or fish, or floating hair—
A tress of golden hair,
A drownèd maiden’s hair,
Above the nets at sea?’
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes of Dee.

They row’d her in across the rolling foam,
The cruel crawling foam,
The cruel hungry foam,
To her grave beside the sea.
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.

Maybe Granny Or maybe the ghosts of the animals that perished when a cattle boat from Ireland went down in the early 1900's (according to my Grandma, who says some of the cattle managed to swim to shore and came out in some very unusual places. but many died trapped in the holds.

Oh no! I bet the ones that escaped the sinking didn't last long afterwards either!
There must have been many a boat go down with cattle on over the years, when we think about it. They were bringing cattle across from Ireland as far back as the 1600's. I think it was as much for the hides then too.

Pretty gruesome business. Can't say abatoires are somewhere that I would like to be within a mile of. Really makes me think of the shear horror they must end their lives with. Poor creatures, great and small. to all of the ones I have eaten.

That is what I call Good News. I hope more follow

From what I can make out ,the cattle were just loose in partitioned hold and the poor things had a shocking time coming over from Ireland especially when the sea was frequently rough and they couldnt hold their footing int the thick sh*t covered floor . Dad was quayside many times with work, and said the numbers that had to be unceremoniously dragged off with broken legs etc was shocking. They were then shot on site, but what pain they must have suffered on the journey .
Thinking about it ,globally, things havent changed much for live transport, its still barbaric. Id like to see transport on the hook, not the hoof.

But how do you get them to the place to put them on the hook? Not many cattle droves around now but they are still remembered in some places by Drove being put in the road name. One in Sleaford, Lincs actually called "The Drove" and that's exactly what it was. It is a cruel business but if you like your steaks, chops or whatever it's colateral damage.

The answers I would put forward Bandy, although I dont know whether they are viable, would be Mobile slaughter houses ,and or mobile slaughterers who shoot in the field( I think that happens with deer now) and or many more very small slaughter houses to which animals could be driven in short times .Then the carcasses could be driven to main points in refrigerated vehicles to be vetchecked bled and hooked, then exported wherever , frozen.

oh well more people to fill the unemployed ranks
dont forget not all people there were cruel

Is it possible to buy tripe?

Some of the things I totally hated as a child I actually relish now, liver, sprouts etc. though one thing I still can not eat is mashed potato!! I can eat it in every form except this1

Nomad

yes, tripe is still available in supermarkets