The three Scottish companies based on the QMS sponsored Scotch Butchers Club stand sold out of meat products by Saturday afternoon and had to send out for extra stock. Sunday proved to be just as busy.

Top Butchers, Ramsay of Carluke, Dalbeattie Fine Foods and Yorkes of Dundee were selling the best Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork as well as award winning sausages, steak pies and haggis, all backed with the gold-plated service and advice you’d expect from your local butcher.

June Lomax, Independent Retailers’ Manager for red meat promotion and development body Quality Meat Scotland, said: “People coming along to an event like this have a real interest in quality food and not surprisingly the butchers in the hall were doing extremely brisk trade. People were there to buy and were attracted by the chance to take the very best meat home with them.

“Butchers on our stand were absolutely delighted at the reaction from visitors and they’re hoping to keep these customers by encouraging them to use the mail order facility in the future.

“We also provided the meat for the demonstrations at the Cookery Theatre and it was chance to remind some of Britain’s top chefs, such as Gordon Ramsay and James Martin, of the quality and versatility of Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork.“

Also proving a major draw for visitors was the chance to have a photograph taken with the Scotch Beef hunk Glen and to play for a t-shirt prize in the tricky Wheel of Fortune meat quiz.