Hugh Maguire Butchers

After building up a long and established career working for many high-class shops in Drogheda, Tullamore and Navan, Hugh Maguire opened his first Butcher Shop in Trimgate Street, Navan, Co. Meath in 1991. At that time, Hugh was one of a new generation of butchers who was determined to maintain the traditional art of his craft despite huge competition from big business.

In March 2004, Hugh and his brother William opened a new ultra-modern butcher shop in Ashbourne Town Centre, which is bright, clean and modern housing an enticingly colourful display of ready to cook foods, pre-packed offerings and a traditional butcher’s meat counter.

Hugh’s philosophy is about providing the best locally sourced meat, thereby supporting local producers and guaranteeing quality, traceability and value to his long established and loyal customer base. Hugh believes the success of the business is due having a great understanding of modern consumer habits and truly believing the customer is ‘king’. Hugh is often sought out by RTE to present items of information on day time TV and receives many enquiries from members of the media on matters related to the beef/chicken/pork and lamb industries.

Becoming the Smokin’ Butcher

I love to travel and find out more about other country’s culture and food. A number of years ago, while visiting France and Spain, I became intrigued with the taste and textures of their various smoke meat products. On returning to Ireland, I noticed that there were no smoked pudding products available on the shelves….which got me thinking! I wanted to find out more, so returned to France and Spain in 2016 to explore the whole area of smoking meat in more detail. I was fortunate to have set up a visit to a premises in Burgos, Northern Spain, where the world famous Morcilla pudding is made. This trip, and the people I spoke to played a pivotal role in my decision to go from Butcher to the Smokin’ Butcher! They spoke with passion about the techniques used in smoking meat products.

The whole smoking process captured my imagination. On returning home to Ashbourne, I immediately set about making my smoked pudding idea a commercial reality, bringing together my passion for black & white pudding with my intrigue with the smoking process.

I secured premises that contained a smokehouse, ensuring I could smoke the products in the traditional, old-fashioned way that produced an exceptionally tasting product.

Feedback from my first batch of smoked puddings was so positive, I decided to immediately make the product available for sale in my own premises in Ashbourne. Since then, I have been approached by some of the most prestigious restaurants in Ireland with a view to serving the product to their customers. Without any major marketing, the product has become a real contender in the ‘foodie world’.

With such great praise about the product in Ireland, I decided to enter the “The Great Taste Awards” in London…..and received a “3 Star Award” for the pudding! The product will also feature on the Great Taste Awards gala dinner in London next week. To have such an endorsement for my smoked pudding gives me great confidence in the integrity and appeal of the product at a European level. The UK market is already demonstrating real potential.

The potential for new products and new variations under the Smokin’ Butcher brand is endless – I look forward to introducing exciting new pudding varieties and other new products over the coming months.