AN ICONIC pie shop that has traded for 185 years closed its doors for good on Saturday.
The historic butchers and piemakers in St Helen's, near Liverpool, announced it would close back in November 2024.
Burchall's on Westfield Street has supplied many generations of locals with pies – but no longer.
For almost 200 years it has been beloved for its juicy pork pies, quality meats and warm atmosphere.
The famous pies take a full 24 hours and a team of 11 staff to prepare, with handmade pastry and the meat processed on site.
It shifts anywhere between 500 and 700 pies each week.
The treasured brand's fifth-generation owner, John Burchall, 75, is retiring – and in doing so calling time on the business.
Loyal customers waited outside the door from hours before opening time this week to get a last taste of the famous pastry-cased offerings.
Queues snaked down the street as pie-lovers turned out in force to send off the shop.
But it's not just about the pies.
Locals wanted to take the final opportunity to experience part of St Helen's fabric, and to shake the hand of a Burchall behind the counter.
John told the St Helen Star: “I did put the business up for sale and had a few interests, but I’m not overly keen on selling because of the historical and family connection.
“I’ve been tempted to sell the recipe, but I would only do so if they implemented all the other aspects of what we do, to keep the quality of the products.
“It's a risk, so it's very nice to go out on top. After the award win, the queues out the door, and all the lovely comments, hopefully the business will be remembered fondly.”;
The award was the Pride of St Helens – bestowed onto John last year.
One of John's ancestors opened up the shop way back in 1840, just three years into Queen Victoria‘s reign.
It was originally launched by Joseph Burchall as a butchers shop on Church Street in St Helens town centre.
The business later expanded into bakery goods, with the help of Joseph's wife Elizabeth.
In 1921, the shop made the short jump to Westfield Street.
John began helping out at the bakery for some pocket money from the age of seven.
After leaving school, he spent time working in banks before returning to the family business in the 1970s at 27.
He took the helm when his dad died in 1995.
John chose the closing date to coincide with the anniversary of his father's death.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
Highenergycosts and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
