Nearly a year after opening his third butcher shop on Putney High Street, Neil Dugard has grown used to a peculiar daily ritual.
“Every day, at least twice, someone asks me: ‘When did you open?'” he says. “People walk up and down the high street every day and don’t notice. It’s getting almost embarrassing to say ‘almost a year.'”
For Dugard & Daughters, the family business that opened at 129-131 Putney High Street last November, the first year has been a lesson in patience. Despite investing over £500,000 and signing a 15-year lease, building awareness has proved harder than expected.
But Dugard isn’t worried. “We’re not going anywhere,” he says firmly.
The battle to get here
The path to Putney began 12 years ago with a crisis. “The day after our second daughter was born, my wife Rosie got made redundant from Microsoft,” Neil recalls. “Six weeks later, I got made redundant. We had a very newborn baby, no jobs, and a big mortgage.”
The couple dusted off a business plan they’d written years earlier – originally for a health food shop – and pivoted to butchery. With Neil’s food retail background and a passionate mentor who believed in traditional butchers counters, they opened their first shop in a railway arch in Herne Hill.
Lots of customers tell me they only come to the High Street for us
Success led to a second shop in Earlsfield, then a two-year search for the right Putney location.
But getting onto Putney High Street proved harder than expected. Neil initially looked at the unit at 157 Putney High Street (now Black Sheep Coffee), spending nearly a year in lease negotiations. “The landlord was… difficult,” Neil says. “He kept changing clauses. We’d get close to signing and he’d changed another part of the lease.”
After battling over everything from slush funds to obscure technical details, they finally gave up. But not on Putney High Street itself: it took two and a half years from first looking at Putney to finally opening at their current location at what used to be Mountain Warehouse.
But what about the business name — “DuGard and Daughters“? “Most butchers are ‘and Sons,'” Neil notes. “I don’t have any sons – I’ve got daughters.” He pauses and laughs: “We drank a lot of red wine working that name out.”
Quality without compromise
What sets Dugard & Daughters apart is uncompromising quality. “We’ve always focused on the highest quality meat we can buy,” Neil explains. “All free-range, all English, all rare breeds. The meat speaks for itself.”
Every piece of beef is dry-aged on-site for at least four weeks in custom-built chillers. All poultry comes from free-range farms stretching from Devon to Yorkshire. “If you got a toddler to draw a picture of a chicken farm, that’s exactly how they look,” Neil says. The pork includes rare breeds like Gloucester Old Spots and Saddlebacks.
The level of service has got to be top, top, top end at all times.
Neil and his team – led by head butcher Gary, who’s been with the business from the start – visit every farm and abattoir personally. “I know butchers in London that say they’re free-range and English, and I know they’re not,” he says bluntly. “I couldn’t sleep at night if we were doing that.”
It’s not just meat: 98% of the shop’s artisan products, from Torres black truffle crisps to daily-baked local bread, can’t be found in supermarkets.
Removing the intimidation
For Neil, education is as important as quality. “About 95% of customers want to know what to use and how to do it,” he says. “It’s amazing how many people come in asking how long to cook a sausage for.”
Many customers find traditional butchers intimidating. They don’t know what 500 grams looks like, how much it will cost, or what to ask for. “One of our jobs is to take that intimidation away,” Neil explains. “The level of service has got to be top, top, top end at all times.”
Sometimes customers ask for advice then ignore it. “‘They’ll ask me: ‘What’s your favourite sausage?’ ‘Toulouse.’ ‘I’ll have six Cumberland please,'” he laughs. But the chicken breast often converts skeptics: “People say it reminds them what chicken tasted like when they were a child.”
The first year reality
The Putney shop hasn’t matched the immediate success of Herne Hill, which “flew from day one.”
“It’s not doing the numbers we thought it would,” Neil admits. “Customer numbers are increasing, but slowly. It’s the next 15 or 20% we need to reach sustainability.”
The £105,000 annual rent is high, while still 50% less than the most popular spot in Wandsworth – Northcote Road – but that does mean the shop needs strong footfall to justify the investment. The cost-of-living crisis hasn’t helped. Neither has the perception of Putney High Street itself.
“Lots of customers tell me they only come to the High Street for us,” Neil says. “They tell me ‘there’s nothing here apart from charity shops and vape shops’.”
But he’s seen this pattern before. The Earlsfield shop had a slow start too, then built steadily. Christmas will be crucial – the shop’s second on Putney High Street and a chance to remind people they’re here. With game season just started and the Christmas range arriving, Neil is optimistic.
Here for the long haul
The 15-year lease tells the story. “We’ve signed up for the long haul,” Neil says. “We’re not going anywhere.”
He dreams of more independents joining Putney High Street. “We need an independent grocer, a fishmonger, a nice cheese shop,” he says. “That’s what makes Herne Hill fantastic – lots of little independent businesses. It changes how people shop.”
For now, he’s focused on building slowly and properly. The first anniversary on 25 November will be a milestone, but the real goal is year two, three, and beyond.
“Let the product shine,” Neil says. “People will come back.”
What to Try: Steaks are the bestseller, but chicken breast often converts first-timers. Game season has just begun, and the Christmas range is arriving. The Torres black truffle crisps are a favourite among the artisan products.
Address: Dugard & Daughters, 129-131 Putney High Street
Hours:
Monday-Friday 9:30am-8pm (late opening for commuters grabbing dinner on the way home)
Saturday 9:30am-5pm
Sunday 10am-4pm
Phone: 020 8075 6635
dugardanddaughters.co.uk
@dugardanddaughters on Instagram
Totally agree, a fantastic butchers to have on the high street, we are lucky to have them. I now shop there regularly purchasing lamb, chicken and snacks like the biltong! Amazing range you cant buy elsewhere.
It’s a fabulous butchers, but the terrible traffic along the High Street may be deterring potential customers.