Video Nation

Nick's van in Great Strickland

Nick Bellas is one of the butchers from Shap, but rather than just a shop of brick and mortar, Nick also has a travelling shop that he uses to visit his customers.

Whilst it is a travelling butcher's shop, Nick keeps a lot of other goods on board to sell, and like the meat he keeps,  it is all locally sourced from farms, markets and wholesalers in the area.

But the people Nick sells to are more than just customers, many are close friends, whom Nick has known since he started the mobile shop some forty years ago.

Nick serving a customer

And even before then, as a boy, Nick used to work on other peoples travelling shops and remembers the days when you could see bakers, butchers, green grocers and even fish mongers out in their vans, selling in all the villages; but know Nick, thinks the travelling shop is a dying breed.

All the while Nick's in the van with his customers, there's a constant chat, all the local gossip discussed, and the world put to rights - It's the news as local and fresh as it can get!

And the news for Nick; his petrol costs have risen some 30% in the recent months and with a rise in the road tax too, it's not the best of times, but his customers are loyal and would most certainly miss his services if he didn't call.

And despite the rising costs, he still thinks it's a really good business, and still enjoys the time he spends out in the van.