POPULAR TV chef and food author Lesley Waters is helping with a major branding exercise to lift the profile of the Q Guild, the organisation that represents some of the best butchers in Britain – including Addy's Butchers, of Hade Edge, above Holmfirth.

Lesley is the guild's celebrity partner in 2009 and is devising a series of seasonal recipes for promotion in Q butcher shops throughout the country, showing consumers what can be achieved with British beef, lamb, pork and chicken.

The promotion coincides with a national branding exercise by the Guild in all of its 150 member shops to convince consumers that the best place to buy the best meat, which will be British and more than likely sourced locally, is at a Q butcher – the Q stands for quality.

Responding to competition from supermarket meat counters, Q butchers shops like Addy's now carry external branding declaring it to be a member of the guild – a sign to consumers that they are shopping at one of the best independent meat retailers in the country.

Q butchers are unique in that they voluntarily submit their businesses to a stringent, independent audit before attaining membership. They are then subjected to regular audits, spot checks and visits from mystery shoppers to ensure standards are adhered to.

Q membership is one of the meat trade's highest endorsements of excellence. “We want to get that across to consumers. Many of them are fed up with the impersonal service, confusing labelling and variable quality frequently experienced in the multiples," said Addy’s Brindon Addy, who is chairman of the Q Guild’s north-east region.

Lesley’s recipe cards – the first is now available to Q butcher customers – will include beef ragout with herby muffins, Greek-style shoulder of lamb, crispy pork chops with lemon and basil and spatchcock chicken with hot tomato chutney.