DALES Traditional Butchers may be firmly based south of the border, but the popular Kirkby Lonsdale shop are celebrating the ‘Year Of The Haggis’ in style after securing a shower of glittering industry awards.

The Market Street butchers saw off competition from around 60 butchers from all over Scotland and beyond to secure a Gold Award for both their haggis based ‘pork balmoral’ product and their Scotch pie with haggis in the prestigious 2019 Scottish Craft Butchers Haggis Products Awards.

And they completed their winning quartet with Silver Awards for their haggis Scotch eggs and another haggis based product know as the ‘Flying Scotsman.’

“It’s great to do well in a Scottish competition that features their most famous foodstuff,” said owner Mark Duckworth.

“We make our own haggis and it always sells very well. It’s a hugely versatile product and we are continuously looking at different and innovative ways to present it to our customers.”

In the 19 years since Mr Duckworth took over the business, he has ensured Scottish favourites such as haggis, Lorne sausage and fruit pudding all feature in his shop, and he is hoping the latest accolades will see his customers enjoying such fare way beyond the forthcoming Burns Night celebrations.

“Having a themed year for haggis in 2019 will allow us to stretch out our offerings to more people for a longer period,” he said.