William Vicars and Son was established in Reading in 1886 and traded in the same family for three generations as Purveyors of English Meat and Game.
In 1973, the company changed hands and was bought by Alan Hayward, who subsequently opened a specialist game processing department (Vicars Game) in part of the old Reading Abattoirs. This moved to Ashampstead in 2001.
In 2005 we started to cure our own bacon and expand the sausage production, making over 2 tonnes daily. During this period, our turnover increased tenfold and the quality and diversity of our products rapidly attracted the attention of an increasing number of prestige retailers and restaurants.
The vast majority of our Game is very local to the Yattendon area. We are fortunate to be situated in the centre of an area which is prolific in wild game, with many large estates and farms within the surrounding 30 miles, all of which have to control and manage the animals that are intent on eating their crops.
As well as the 100,000 Pheasants and Partridge we get from sporting estates, we also have Rabbit, Hare, Roe deer, Fallow deer and Muntjac. We also receive Red and Sika deer, from surrounding counties. Our turnover is enormous – we process over 6,000 deer each year.
We only buy quality animals; including beef, pork and lamb, of the right age and physique. In fact, everything about them must be 100%. We follow that principle right through the whole process so that the manufacturing is only done with fresh, high quality meat, on a daily basis.