Shoppers who tend to buy all their produce under the one roof may wonder what all the fuss is about. Why traipse to one shop for meat, another for veg and another for bread when the local multiple conveniently sells all?

The answer can be found in simpler times when a local trader knew his customers by name and knew exactly what they'd buy before they ever entered his store. Despite the disappearance of the personal touch from most services (think automated switchboards, directory enquiries and self-service check-outs) this kind of old-fashioned assistance can still be enjoyed in independent butchers, bakers, fishmongers and greengrocers the length and breadth of the country.

If a cheery welcome doesn't seem reason enough to change your shopping habits, surely the quality of the meat is. Chefs like Gordon Ramsay and other regular butchershop patrons will tell you that it's the consistent quality and flavour that draws them back for their weekly purchases. While you might put up with poor steak two weeks running from the supermarket, a butcher simply can't afford that kind of mistake twice.

As with any business there are butchers who pile it high, sell it cheap and don't care too much about quality. Likewise, there are some supermarkets where you will find great meat at their butcher counter, albeit with less consistency. What you won't find here though, is forthcoming advice or the option to bring in your stuffing so the guy behind the counter can stuff and tie your chosen cut. You won't find him asking if you enjoyed your sirloin last week or suggesting you take lamb this week as the beef hasn't been hanging long enough.

This combination of quality and care are the trump cards that will help ensure the local butcher remains a constant in Irish life.

It's also up to us as consumers to vote with our feet and wallets. It's simplistic to blame the supermarkets for the demise of diversity, especially if we're not prepared to change our ways.

"We cure our own hams, make our own sausages and we still get in whole animals" Eoin O'Mahony is a fourth generation butcher at Cork's English market. The 28-year-old arts graduate is not worried about supermarkets taking their trade, as they cater for the top end of the meat market and no mass producer can compete with them "My great grandfather came from Limerick in 1898 to become a butcher's apprentice in Cork's English Market, thus beginning a long line of Bresnan butchers. I'm the fourth generation working in the market today . . . my uncle still runs the original stall and my mum, Katherine O'Mahony, took over another 12 years ago.

"Mum wouldn't do anything with a knife, but she's very much the public face of the stall. I'd no intention of entering the business and studied arts at UCC. But after I graduated, Mum broke her leg and was out of action for six months. It's a small business, so I simply stepped in to help out. I was thrown in the deep end but really got to love the job which I now do full time.

"It's really enjoyable working here and I see it as a bit of a challenge. I think it's an advantage being well-educated when you're running a business and although I know plenty of successful business people who don't have degrees I think personally that my background in economics helps me to think laterally and respond sensibly.

"As a butcher we need to respond to change. In the past, butchers used to buy in whole carcasses and sides of beef. Back then everything was sold but today most offcuts go in to food manufacturing.

"Today's customers don't value cheap cuts: they want something fancy like lamb shank or best cut. Older generations who might have bought a joint, a few pounds of mince and some stewing beef are being matched by younger shoppers looking for fillet or rib; they're happy to pay a premium and they want something that cooks quickly.

"Some butchers still have their own cattle but they'll nearly always use a slaughterhouse elsewhere to kill it. Hundreds of years ago, practically every butcher shop had its own slaughterhouse, especially in county towns. O'Mahony's and Bresnan's are unique that way as my uncle, Michael Bresnan, buys in yearlings and kills them at 1824 months. Traceability is a big deal these days and it's completely straightforward for us.

"A supermarket could never compete with our craft approach. We cure our own hams, make our own sausages and we still get in whole animals. Most places today just buy in meat in vacuum packs, so this really sets us apart.

"Admittedly we have to do this for prime cuts like sirloin, as we'd never have enough of these. Although it can't fully equal what we slaughter ourselves we're careful to get the finest quality from a small slaughterhouse in Carrigaline.

"At O'Mahony's we aim for the top end of the market. We present our meat very well and age it longer than many others which means it does cost more. But we're not concerned about the reputed demise of the butcher shop. The English Market is such an integral part of Cork city; it seems highly unlikely to be displaced by the supermarket culture."

"There's no point in butchers complaining that things aren't good right now if they aren't prepared to move forward" Terry Whelan took an apprenticeship as a butcher as a teenager. The 44-year-old opened his own shop on Dublin's Parnell Street for almost a decade. The immigrant market is a big one for Terry and he now stocks the likes of boerewors along with traditional cuts of meat "I've been a butcher since I was a teenager and have worked in every aspect of butchering from the slaughterhouse to producing sausages, from the corporate environment to the family business. Farming is the only bit I'm not au fait with.

"I opened in Parnell Street nine years ago and buy all my meat from one farmer in Baltinglass. He slaughters my beef and lamb and picks them out of the field for me. Everything he brings in is recorded and traceable.

"I'd say the vast majority of butchers have a relationship with a farm but I don't think the consumer is necessarily aware of this.

Although butchers are traditionalists at what we do we have to be progressive to survive, especially as you can buy meat everywhere from the supermarket to the petrol station. There's no point in butchers complaining that things aren't good right now if they aren't prepared to move forward.

"I've looked at other cultures and adapted my practice to appeal to them while still keeping the traditional cuts that are core to my business. In the shop you'll see signs in several different languages, all offering cuts from specific places like South America.

Argentines want their meat cut at a different angle, so that's what I give them.

"Last year I identified that no one was catering for the growing South African population, so I began producing biltong and fresh boerewors, a traditional beef farmer's sausage from South Africa. I started stocking a lot of their dried goods too, which complements the meat and has increased my trade. The interest has been so great that I'm just launching Table Mountain Foods, a new website that will deliver South African specialities all over Ireland.

"I've won British Great Taste Awards for my pastrami and my cooked ham and I'm the only butcher in the country making ham without adding water and phosphates.

"Along with offering quality meat, the customer relationship is key to our survival.

People like to feel recognised and valued and a butcher only gets one chance to make that customer want to come back. While I see a lot of foreign customers my core customers are the older women who've lived in the flats all their lives. A widow might just want a single pork chop or two sausages and one rasher for their tea . . . a choice she mightn't have at her supermarket.

"A good butcher will tell you if the beef wasn't hanging long enough and to go for the lamb this week. You won't get that kind of advice from a supermarket and while their meat, in general, can be good there's such a high turnover that it's very hit and miss. By offering quality Irish meat and exceptional service butchers don't have to lose customers to the supermarkets."

"I generally believe the butcher shop will come back as a key place for shopping" Declan Arthurs has been a butcher since leaving school. The 38-year-old opened his own shop two years ago in Marino in Dublin and has built a loyal customer base in that time. He is gearing up for his busiest time of year as orders come in for turkeys and ham "I've been a butcher for 20 years and opened Declan's Family Butchers 15 months ago.

Different butchers have different styles of operating and my first boss advised me to go for quantity over quality. I don't think that's the way forward and I don't think it would appeal to my customers.

"I've taken on a 25-year lease here as I genuinely believe the butcher shop will come back as a key place for shopping.

"I'm in a fantastic area, and though I do have close competition I believe that if you get quality produce, present it right, price it right and look after the customer, they'll keep coming back.

"There was an old butcher's shop here before I signed my lease and I've managed to retain most of his customers. Older customers still prefer traditional cuts like laps of lamb and meat on the bone; younger people want prime cuts or things they can cook quickly. Because a butcher is smaller than a supermarket I think it's easier for us respond to local tastes.

"With the supermarket selling meat people don't necessarily need to visit a butchers.

The hardest part of starting out is drawing the customer in to the shop, and once you get them in it's up to you to keep them. People buy with their eyes so your shop needs to look well and you have to know what you're selling.

"In a supermarket there's no help or advice offered to shoppers and no one will know how long the meat has been hung for. (My beef hangs for 21 days and my lamb for seven. ) People are happy to take their butchers' advice and then come back afterwards with feedback. I like to remember who's buying what so I can enquire how it went down afterwards.

"Everything I buy is Irish. If you start buying in the likes of the Brazilian stuff you lose all traceability. I may have to pay a little bit more but it works for me. A new butcher needs to build up a reputation, and looking after each customer with quality produce is the best way to do this. Supermarkets don't need to impress their customers but a butcher does if he wants to see you again.

"My shop may be small but it allows me to have time for each of my customers. It's really important to be open and foster a friendly relationship. I'm looking forward to Christmas, which is, for most people, the most important meal of the year. Like many good butchers I still have the names of everyone who bought their turkey from me last Christmas and I know what weight they bought and how they wanted it prepared. I'm hoping they'll all be back again this year and I'm hoping to sell a few hundred more Most of Ireland's finest butchers are members of the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland.

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