JC Rook & Sons: What has filled the gaps in Kent’s High Streets?
05:00, 14 September 2023
updated: 13:08, 14 September 2023
It was one of the county’s oldest and biggest butchery firms, employing 130 people at 11 branches for more than 55 years.
JC Rook & Son was as familiar to people on high streets in Kent as Woolworths was to the rest of the country.
On March 14, 2022, the butchers closed for the final time having gone into administration.
Staff and customers were heartbroken and it was a huge blow to both the industry and our high streets.
When the news broke, Broadstairs' manager Dean said: "I am absolutely heartbroken at this time in writing this, not just for myself but my fantastic team I had working for me and also for the town of Broadstairs.
"In the nearly five years I have been back at the shop, we as a team have turned it around and moved it forward. Thank you, everyone, for your support over the years, you have been fantastic."
But now, 18 months on, many of the shops have been given a new lease of life. We have had a look at what has filled the massive gap the firm left behind.
The former butchers in the High Street has been up on the market but the latest update suggests the let has been agreed.
It is being listed with estate agents Miles and Barr Commercial who branded the sale as an “extremely rare and exciting opportunity”.
The firm said the corner location would suit many different types of businesses, particularly those which are already butchers or retail premises.
Although the let has been agreed upon, it is not yet known what the future holds for the shop.
Further along the coast, the High Street shop in Deal is also lying empty.
Speaking when the shop closed, Chris Walsh, 22, who would buy his lunch from the seaside town’s branch most days, said: "I am gutted. There are usually queues outside the door."
Peter Sidgewick, 74, from St Margaret's Bay, added: "Genuinely, I am shocked, not to say gob-smacked.
"It seemed to me to be an exceptionally popular store. People would come and buy their food for lunchtime. The meat here was really good, the sausages particularly.
"And my late wife was very partial to the belly pork. It is staggering to me that it has had to go. The people that work here must be utterly shell-shocked."
The former shop in Dover has been transformed into a convenience store simply called 22 Market Square – its actual address.
The first JC Rooks & Sons to be established was in Dover in 1965 when Joseph Christmas Rook opened it with two of his sons, Michael and Roger.
Joseph was a butcher since leaving school, except during the war when he joined the RAF.
According to its website, the family has had a connection with the meat trade since the 18th century, originating in and around Norfolk.
Folkestone and Hythe
Those in Folkestone and Hythe are not missing out on their meat as a new butcher opened its doors in the place of the former Rooks unit.
Folkestone Butchers, in Sandgate Road, welcomed customers into the new store earlier this year with plans to create their "own identity".
The shop is now one of the company's four branches in Kent – Aldington, Dymchurch, Hythe and Folkestone.
Business owner Peter Vickerman said he is relieved to finally get his latest project open to the public and is confident it will be a success.
"It has taken a lot of work to get going, but the reaction has been really positive to the opening,” he added. “I have been in the butcher shop business my whole life so I am not nervous about it at all.”
The Folkestone Butchers is now the second former Rook's building that has been taken over by Mr Vickerman, following the opening of the Hythe Butchers in May last year.
"We are not the same as normal butchers. We do a lot of added value products, we keep the prices very reasonable while keeping it at a high quality. Folkestone has never had anything like we do," he added.
Manager of the new Folkestone store, Chris Esdaile, previously worked at Rooks for 12 years before they went bust but is confident that Folkestone Butchers will not make the same mistakes.
He added: "We are not trying to be Rooks, we have learnt from their mistakes and we are making our own identity. It has been really busy, it has been a very encouraging start.”
Daily Catch Fishmongers opened around a month ago in the former butchers and it is already proving popular with shoppers.
Staff member Abdul Jabar said: "There was no fish shop so everyone is very happy we are here. This is the first one in 35 years in the High Street.
"We are happy to be bringing fresh fish to Gillingham. People needed fishmongers here so we thought it would be the best place to open.
"Our customers were going as far as Rainham and Chatham for fresh fish."
Abdul, who lives in Gillingham, said their customers are pleased to see the store filled and that it has not been left empty.
He added: "It was a very good butchers and it was always busy. It was an already made shop so we did not have to do much before opening."
The 30-year-old and his colleague Saleem Yousaf buy the produce from Billingsgate, in London, at 3am each morning.
Another seaside town’s Rooks is yet to see new tenants.
The premises, in Mortimer Street, is sitting empty but those looking to buy meat off the counter do not have far to go as next-door butchers Taylor Meats is open.
Speaking following the closure of Rooks last year, Scott Taylor, of Taylor Meats, said the industry faces a number of challenges, including a shift in shopping habits and a struggle to draw in younger generations.
"The bottom line is that people's lifestyles have changed so much, and quite a few butchers have gone as a result,” he explained.
"We are doing OK and are not going anywhere, but it is becoming harder and harder in many aspects, with supermarkets getting stronger and using meat as a draw like they did alcohol.
"One of the newer challenges is the change in our future customers, and the youth coming through, whose lifestyles are so different.
"In the past, they might have carried on the tradition of how [their families] shop and eat but that is changing now.”
A new Italian produce store has opened at the site of a popular town centre butchers a few months ago.
Eat Italiano in The Mall is now open to the public, after taking over the P&R Italian shop, which had previously replaced JC Rooks & Sons in August last year.
The Mediterranean deli sells a range of produce – including artisanal pasta and sauces, as well as cured meats, cheeses, wines and olives.
On their website it says: “Whether you are a seasoned Italian food enthusiast or a curious beginner, you will find everything you need to satisfy your cravings for authentic Italian cuisine at our shop.”
It is the second store to open, with another in Royal Victoria Place, in Tunbridge Wells.
The village butchers used to occupy a space inside Millbrook Garden Centre, in Station Road.
The unit has remained the same but has now changed its name to The Millbrook Butchers.
Nestled in a corner of the garden centre it is not your typical store as rather than being surrounded by slabs of meat customers are welcomed with a calm and modern look with wooden and ceramic pigs and cows on display.
Ramsgate
The site in Kings Street has kept a similar facade to Rooks but it is a world away from sausages and burger puffs.
Now an indoor market known as Hidden Treasures, the shop sells antiques, bric-a-brac and vintage clothes.
It is understood to be open seven days a week.
Four months after Rooks closed, its former High Street premises was snapped up by deli P&R Italian Shop, similar to Maidstone, offering fresh and dry food imported from Italy.
But by the end of last year it shut with owners saying it was due to the cost of living crisis.
Speaking about Rooks, Matt Hall, 43, a taxi driver from Staplehurst Road, said: “I used to go in there quite a look to get sausage rolls for lunch. It was a surprise when it shut as there were so many of them around I thought they were doing well.
“I would like a men's clothes shop in there as there are not many places where I can get stuff for myself after Burtons closed. It is a dead town now with Wilkos going."
Former paper mill worker Brenda Gasson, 75, of Pegrin Drive, added: "I used to like the cornish pasties and sausage rolls. It is a shame it shut. We have not got a vegetable shop or a butcher on the high street now which are the two things we need. I would like to see Rooks come back."
Swimming pool manager Phoebe, 74, and engineer Paul Smallwood, 76, from Sheerstone in Iwade said they used to buy their meat from Rooks for their Sundayand Christmas roasts.
They added: “It is sad as everywhere you look its a hair dresser, a nail salon or a charity shop. A department store would be nice but that would never happen in Sittingbourne."
Now the shop front remains empty like many others in the county.
