Since 1929

The Robertshaw’s story begins in 1929 when grandad Harry Robertshaw opened his butchers’ shop in Halifax. Growing up, his son Andrew Robertshaw was always at the shop helping. In the mid 1960s he moved to where we are now and began selling potatoes and vegetables at the side of the road. In 1974 he opened The Farm Shop.

Our current owner James Robertshaw grew up in the shop, and as soon as he was old enough, he would be working and helping customers. In 1987 he put a butchers’ counter in the shop, with the help of his Grandad and Uncle David who is also a butcher.

In 2000 sadly Andrew died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving James to take over the responsibility of the family business.

Built on a working sheep farm, our shop has been producing and selling fresh food for over 40 years.

The shop has developed over the years and we have added and extended the old tractor sheds which is where the shop now stands. Our ranges have grown too! We have our own bakery producing award winning pork pies which contain meat seasoned to our original secret recipe. These are then made and baked by our amazing bakery team.

We work closely with more than 400 local Yorkshire farmers, growers, producers and suppliers to ensure that our customers have access to the highest quality produce, whilst upholding high standards of freshness, flavour and traceability. We're committed to supporting the surrounding farming community, reducing the need for excessive 'food miles' and championing livestock wellbeing.

We are all about fresh food and we are very proud of our large fruit and veg display. It gives our customers a wide choice of produce and has a focus on seasonality, whether that be the best strawberries the season has to offer or forced rhubarb and asparagus picked that day. We also love our freshly squeezed orange juice. If you haven’t tried it yet, what are you waiting for?

We are passionate about keeping things fresh too, and we are always on the lookout for new products. Our development chef is busy creating new and exciting things for us to try and helping to make our existing products even better.

We have a very large butchery department and have some great products that are bought locally by James at local auctions and then expertly created and displayed by our butchers. We make some of the best sausages and burgers around.

 

Our Delicatessen has a large selection of products including our own cooked meats, pies and pastries and a range of curries made by Aagrah.

We put a lot of time and effort into finding new and exciting products to put on our shelves but we also know that sometimes only branded tomato ketchup will do so we also have an extensive range of 'nations favourites'. We want our customers to be able to do a full shop including store cupboard, cleaning and frozen essentials - not forgetting our extensive wine and beer section too!

We have always prided ourselves on giving our customers a good deal. Come and take a look, it might surprise you that supporting your local farm shop will not cost as much as you think! Our prices are very competitive and, in some cases, we are cheaper than many supermarket equivalents.

We hope to see you in the shop soon!

4th Generation Farmers and Butchers

James Robertshaw

Owner

3rd Generation Robertshaw

Harley Robertshaw

Butcher- Young Apprentice Of The Year 2022

4th Generation Robertshaw

Robertshaw's Timeline

The Robertshaw's family have been bringing local food to your dinner plates for 4 generations

Grandad Harry Robertshaw opened up his butchers shop in the centre of Halifax.

Harry's son Andrew moved to the farm here. Keelham Hall Farm.

Andrew began selling potatoes from a shed on the farm.

Andrew's brother David Robertshaw opened up a butchers shop in the farm opposite

James put in a butchers with the help of his dad and Uncle David

Over the next few years the shop grew and grew. A Delicatessen was added and more sheds were built to create space to sell items.

We were now known as The Farm Shop and Andrew used the farmer logo the Yorkshire Post designed for an advert we ran in the paper.

Sadly Andrew passed away suddenly due to a heart attack and James took over running the family business.

In 2004 James' sister Victoria moved up from London and came to help James at the Farm Shop.

We changed the name to Keelham Hall Farm Shop, named after the farm the shop is situated on.

We make all our own sausages and burgers and they were starting to draw some attention. People will travel for miles to buy them.

We were recognised by The Great Yorkshire Sausage and Pie Competition for our homemade sausages.

Final Three in the Farm Shop Of The Year Awards.

One of the highest recorded snowfalls in years. Months of snow at the highest farm shop in the UK.

Christa Ackroyd and Look North came to film at the shop to show how we had continued to stay open throughout the worst winter on record.

Winner of Retailer of the Year in the Food and Farming Awards

Finalists in Butchers Shop Of The Year Awards and Highly Commended in the Yorkshire Post Taste Awards

Winner of the Countryside Alliance Local Food Awards

We were also finalists in four other awards this year!

Our apprentice butcher Kyle won Apprentice Butcher Of The Year in the national awards.

We worked with a local design agency to re-brand and refresh the shop to Keelham Farm Shop, dropping 'Hall' from the name.

Deliciously Yorkshire Award Winners.

Highly Commended in the Food and Farming Awards and runners up in the Observer Food Monthly Awards

Dalesman Award Winners

Finalists in the FARMA Awards Retailer of the Year category

Awarded Best Santa's Grotto in the North by The Greatest Christmas Awards.

First retailer in the UK to be awarded with a CAMRA recognised award for our vast selection of Yorkshire regional ales.

We opened up our Takeaway. Customers can now enjoy freshly prepared cooked food from the shop to eat straight away.

We won overall best Pork Pie in The Great Yorkshire Sausage, Pork Pie and Products Competition.

We were highly commended in the Farm Shop and Deli Awards

Winner of Santa Special Award for Team. Finalist in best Grotto and best Christmas Display.

We bought Amblers bakery in Thornton village from Paul Ambler and began making our own pies for the Farm Shop

We opened up our second shop in Skipton after years of planning.

Winner in the Rural Business Awards for Best Rural Food and Drink Business.

Highly commended Pork Pie, Silver for our Steak and Ale Pie and Steak and Red Wine Pie. Bronze for our Chicken Curry Pie.

Anita Rani visited us to film for a programme she was presenting on BBC.

Farm Shop and Deli Awards Large Retailer Award Winner

Highly Commended for our range of locally made gins at the Icons of Gin Awards

Brother and sister owners decided to part ways, both wanting different things for the business. James took over sole ownership of the Thornton shop and changed the name to Robertshaw's Farm Shop - the family name.

We re-branded the shop Robertshaw's Farm Shop. James the 3rd generation Robertshaw, with his son Harley 4th generation, training as an apprentice in the butchers.

Regional Finalists in the Rural Business Awards for Best Rural Independant Retailer

We purchased Asa Nicholson's Bakery (just down the road) from Gordon Nicholson. We now make fresh bread, confectionery and cream cakes ourselves.

Winner of Best Rural Retail Business in the North.

Harley Robertshaw awarded the Norman Wright Apprentice Butcher Of The Year Award by the York Butchers Gild.

Winner Of the Family Business Of The Year in the Bradford Means Business Awards 2022.