A FAMILY firm that was a familiar feature on Rodbourne Road when the railway works was in its prime, has returned to Swindon 75 years after it was born.

T H Burroughs Family Butchers shut down not long after the railway sheds started to fall silent more than three decades ago.

But now it is back at a new base in Stratton with the grandson of founder Thomas Burroughs at the reins.

Graham and wife Jane opened their new shop in Hobley Drive to customers on Saturday and were delighted with the welcome it received.

They resurrected the name eight years ago when they were invited to have a spot at Cobbs Farm Shop in Hungerford.

But said Graham: “We thought we would bring the family name back to Swindon.”

They saw the unit not far away from where they live and where Graham was brought up and thought it could be the perfect place.

“It just seemed the ideal time to do it and this was the ideal situation to bring it back to.”

Jane added: “We heard it was being advertised. We came and had a look a couple of times before we decided to go for it.”

At 3,000 square foot the new store is roughly double the size of the original shop.

It also has a new walk in fridge and a delicatessen.

But one of the biggest attractions for the couple was the fact that customers in the Stratton area could get to it on foot.

“We’ve had a lot of good feedback,” said Graham. “Lots of people have said how nice it is to have a shop to walk to.”

The firm, which has won National Federation of Meat and Food Traders’ awards for its burgers and sausages, has a cheese counter featuring the Cerney Goats Cheese produced by butcher Joe Johnson’s family.

It also has a section devoted to a range of gourmet frozen ready meals.

Much of the meat, including Cotswold lamb, comes from local producers and is all free range.

“We view the animal’s life as more important than anything,” he explained.

He and Jane visit all the producers each year to see the conditions the animals are being kept in and the firm is a member of the Humane Slaughter Association.

One or two customers of Saturday’s customers remembered the name from its time in Rodbourne Road.

Started in 1942 by Graham’s grandad and his father John, the business had many successful years there before the final days of the railway works and the knock-on effect in the community led Thomas Burroughs to close it.

Graham joined another family firm, Keith Berry Butchers in Old Town in 1980 and moved with it to Berry and Son’s in the Ellendune Centre, Wroughton sometime later.

It was while he was working for Jesse Smiths at Marlborough that he was approached to start as shop at Cobbs Farm and the Burroughs name was revived.