history

Sometime around 1860 James Coppin's father sent his son, then about 10-year-old, to be apprenticed to a master Butcher in North London. James first job in the firm was to look after the horses that pulled the delivery and collection carts. We know nothing of his teenage years although he must have learnt the trade well for he next emerges in the 1870's as manager of a large and prosperous double shop in Clapham. In the photo (click photo 1) James can be seen looking very dapper in centre screen wearing flowered buttonhole and wing collar.To be manager of such a shop at his young age( he was in his mid twenties) was quite an achievement and he must have been paid well for he soon married and started a typical large Victorian family of 6 sons and three daughters. All but one of these survived to adulthood and ALL 8 of those worked in the firm at some time. Right from the start James' aim was to be his own boss and one day when travelling to Mitcham to play cricket he was forced to leave the horse drawn bus at Tooting Junction (for the bus went no further in those days). As he set out to walk the rest of the way to Mitcham he noticed an ailing butchers shop about to close down. Enquires were made and James soon rented the shop and opened for business. Things were hard at first, opening during a heat wave and at a time when you had to prove yourself before the customers would come he set out with his policy of selling top class meat at a fair price. This was the key as it still is today and within 6 months he had bought the property and installed the family in the large flat above the shop. Over the next 30 years the shop became one of the busiest and best known in south London and as the sons (and daughters) grew up they entered the business.

In the early 30's James died in his sleep from a stroke and his sons took over the firm. The photo (click photo 2) shows the shop in 1931 shortly before James death, to his right stands Jim his oldest son. As with many Victorian families the age span of the children was large and James oldest son Jim (who fought in WW1) was a full 20 years older than the youngest Bob (who fought in the 2nd WW) so their reign in the shop was a long one, from 1934 to 1990. The last remaining son, Bill died just six months after retiring in 1990 leaving his son Dave and Bob's son Paul to carry on. Sadly Dave died in the same year following an accident aged just 38. Paul now carries on the tradition and after the difficult times all butchers had in the mid 1990's the old policy of top quality at a fair price has proved the key once again and in the past 6 years the business has gone from strength to strength. In 1992 Paul's' daughter Charlotte worked for a time in the shop during her time at collage becoming the 15 family member to work at 276 Mitcham Rd.