NEW life has arrived with a bang in Trimley St Martin with the opening of The Sausage Shop.And Rodney Rowe and John Powell's sausage business is not just giving a boost to the shop-starved immediate community but serving customers as far as Bury St Edmunds who come to buy the meaty treats.

NEW life has arrived with a bang in Trimley St Martin with the opening of The Sausage Shop.

And Rodney Rowe and John Powell's sausage business is not just giving a boost to the shop-starved immediate community but serving customers as far as Bury St Edmunds who come to buy the meaty treats.

The hand made bangers bring in a steady flow of customers looking for a change from pre-packed supermarket products.

Mr Rowe said: "I can't believe the response we have had from people."

He said he made 700lb of sausage last week and as well as getting orders from businesses they cater for the older generation who just want one rasher of bacon and one sausage.

Mr Rowe, of Brick Kiln Close, Trimley St Martin, had expected The Sausage Shop in Trimley High Road to be busy eventually and it has a large car park ideal for customers to conveniently drive in to.

But also their secret weapon, an eye-grabbing mannequin with no hands standing outside the shop, has been drawing curious customers in. The mannequin is dressed in butchers clothing and is called Horiz, after the way Mr Rowe discovered it – horizontal.

And it has been living up to its name since as it has suffered a chipped nose and its arms temporarily fell off during the storms when it fell over.

"It brings everybody in, when people look over they don't see the shop they see the mannequin. One of my partners got it from Felixstowe. It was up for sale and she just thought 'great'."

The Sausage Shop opened for business on October 18. "We started in June but did not have any premises to sell from, so we were looking for a shop," said Mr Rowe.

"John's a chef by trade and I'm a butcher by trade, he does all the recipes like meat loaf or stuffing for Christmas. I do all the making and all the filling by hand which is a lot of work.

"We just use prime shoulder pork, we will guarantee you will not get anything chewy in there that you don't want."

Word of mouth has spread fast and the business partners are rushed off their feet. They had thought about making a Trimley sausage but have been too busy so have not had the chance to decide what flavours or meats should be put inside it.

However they have a growing range of different sausages from Olde English to beef, Guinness and garlic. They also made a special champagne sausage to celebrate national sausage week last week.

But although Mr Rowe works with sausages nearly every day he is still not fed up with them, nor are his family, as he still eats the bangers up to four times a week especially at breakfast time.

WEBLINKS

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Factfile: sausages

Sausages were in evidence at least 5,000 years ago in Sumeria (modern day Iraq).

It was in the reign of Charles I that sausages were divided into links for the first time.

Sausages were nicknamed bangers during the Second World War as they had to tendency to explode with a bang when fried.

250,000 metric tonnes of sausage are consumed each year in the UK, which is around 10lb per person.

The British sausage market grew by 11 per cent to a staggering £450 million in 2001, with growth mainly in the premium sausage sector, sold loose.

88pc of households regularly buy sausages, with 470 different flavours to choose from.

The most expensive sausage in the UK was made from fillet steak with champagne and truffles and cost £20 each.

Source: The Good Web Guide.