The new owner of Joyce & Lucas Butchers and Delicatessen in Alton High Street invited the Herald round for a tour this week.

We had to wait a little while as a flurry of customers entered Richard Parish’s shop and left happily with a variety of traditional butcher’s fare.

But once we had a chance to talk, I asked Richard what was the most exotic meat he had been asked to stock.

He said: “Zebra - and I can get it. A supplier is sending their product list over and you can get any exotic meat. Apart from ostrich, at the moment, for some reason.

“It was a South African who asked me for zebra. It’s normal to them.”

Rest assured, Richard also caters extensively for those looking for the kind of thing seen in British butchers for centuries.

He said: “We’re doing an offer on sirloin steaks at the moment, three for £10. The pies are also going well, and will sell even better next week because it’s National Pie Week. The beef olives and minted lamb rumps are both going very well.”

Richard’s pie list features steak, steak and Guinness, steak and Stilton, steak and kidney, chicken with leek and bacon, pork, pork and Stilton, and Scotch. There are also sausage rolls, home-made faggots, Scotch eggs and pasties.

Meat for sale includes diced goat, duck breast, lamb shank, sweetbreads and treacle bacon, with the exotic lines also featuring horse, wild boar and kangaroo steaks.

There is a good range of cheeses plus eggs and an entire wall of jams, chutneys, sauces, stuffing mixes and flour to stock up your pantry.

Richard admitted he’s currently on a bit of a learning curve: “I was just a butcher, working for somebody else. Now I’m paying the bills and dealing with all the headaches. It’s very different to what I did before!”