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Bruce of the Broch - A Family History...

 “Some hae maet and canna eet.
And some wide et that want it:
But we hae maet and we can eet.
So let the Lord be thankit.”

The Selkirk Grace, Robert Burns.
The tradition of giving “The Selkirk Grace” at a family supper has remained with the Bruce family for 4 generations.
Meat has always been the business of the Bruce family. In 1886 James Bruce an Aberdeen man returned from Bloemfontein in South Africa to get married.

He moved to Fraserburgh and started a butchers shop in Kirk Brae with help from his wife Charlotte. The business grew and they moved to a new shop in Castle Street.

Castle St Shop 1916

There were now six children in the family James, Albert, Dod, Charlotte, Dorothy and Nan, who all became involved in the business from an early age.
They served their apprenticeship as butchers. The business grew and at one point they had shops in
  • Fraserburgh
  • Mintlaw
  • Aberdeen

and seasonal shops in

  • Mallaig
  • Lowestoft
  • Great Yarmouth

They traded from these shops when the large Scottish fleet followed the herring around the coast.

When James Bruce died in 1932 the family split the business up and the brothers all started trading by themselves.
Albert Bruce started a shop in School St in Fraserburgh, this shop took a direct hit with a bomb during the second world war. After the cessation of hostilities of the Second World War, Albert had to rebuild the business from scratch. This he did with the help of his son Albert (Abbie).
Abbie continued to build up the business after his father took a stroke and had to retire early. In 1974 his son Alistair joined the business and still runs the business today. In 1990 they moved to new premises in the main square in Fraserburgh.
Broad Street Shop 2004
In 1993 our old premises in Frithside St, were converted into a bakery with a kitchen.
We employed a chef to make all the pies and pasties for our 2 shops and have not looked back since.

In 2000 due to demand we started to wholesale our Pie range and in 2004 added a Ready Meal range. In April 2004 we moved into a factory unit and have an EEC Meat products license.

Today, www.gourmetmeats.co.uk is the place to buy meat online. Having built our reputation on supplying the very best Aberdeenshire meat available, we decided that we should supply our Award Winning Pies, Ready-made meals, Bakery goods and Fish online.