Despite supermarket dominance, there are still independent butchers' shops to be found on many high streets, and there are some compelling reasons to give them your custom.

Firstly, there's the issue of food quality. While supermarkets are excellent at providing a good range of food at a low cost, high quality isn't always as important to them as such issues as shelf life and profitability. In, contrast a butcher will usually be extremely concerned with quality - and while you might have to pay a little more for a similar cut of meat, there's a very good chance you'll be getting more than enough improvement in flavour and texture to make up for this.

Local butchers are also more likely to be able to trace the source of their meat and tell you exactly where it came from. This is very important to growing numbers of people in these days of food health scares and worries over industrial farming. Knowing where your food comes from allows you to exercise your right to choose which kinds of meat production you're happy to support.

Most butchers that remain on our high streets are independent, family run businesses, and shopping at them helps to support your local communities. The money you spend there will stay in your local area instead of being siphoned off to investors in the form of profits, to the benefit of everyone in your area.

In a similar way, many local butchers will have strong ties to their locality, sourcing many products from farms in the surrounding areas, compared to supermarkets who often fly in their products from the other side of the world. In today's environmentally conscious times, keeping things local is a powerful mantra.

Finally, if you are a regular customer you have the opportunity to strike up a relationship with the staff there, and you'll probably find in time that you're favoured with special deals or the best cuts not on general public view. All small businesses will seek to reward their best customers and keep them happy, and most butchers are no exception.

None of this is to say that all butchers are necessarily better than all supermarkets. There are of course good and bad examples of both, but if you find a good local butcher then it makes sense to use them as much as you can. Not only will you enjoy the benefits laid out above, but you'll be supporting their business and ensuring that you continue to have choices beyond the supermarket chains for where you shop.