What Crombies of Edinburgh is known for
Broughton Street butcher founded in 1955 by Alex Crombie, a former bacon curer and meat inspector, and expanded from the 1970s by son Sandy. Its 'Sausages of Distinction' won Scotland's Best Butcher's Beef Sausage in 1985 and grew into a range of more than 100 handcrafted varieties.
Alex Crombie was 49 when he took over a small, run-down butcher's shop at 49 Broughton Street in Edinburgh in 1955. He came to it with experience as a butcher, bacon curer and meat inspector for Edinburgh City Council, and built the business around four stated principles: quality, value, cleanliness and service. His handcrafted sausages, marketed as 'Sausages of Distinction,' became the shop's signature early on.
Alex died in 1961 at 55. His son Sandy, who had joined the business in 1956, took over and expanded the shop through the 1970s by incorporating neighbouring units on Broughton Street. In 1985 the business won Scotland's Best Butcher's Beef Sausage with a low-fat recipe, a result that pushed the team to develop what is now a range of more than 100 handcrafted gourmet sausages.
The shop, at 97-101 Broughton Street within the Broughton Market, is today run by Sandy's son and daughter-in-law as a broader food store alongside the original sausage and meat trade. A pause in nationwide courier shipping currently limits customers to shop collection or delivery within Edinburgh's EH postcodes.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Award-winning handcrafted sausages, more than 100 varieties since 1955.
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Hand-curated for ORBIS · no paid placement