UK Sausage Week: Nation prepares to celebrate the UK’s best bangers

UK Sausage Week: Nation prepares to celebrate the UK’s best bangers

UK Sausage Week, the premier initiative celebrating one of the public’s favourite meal-time staples, will run throughout the last week of October following a successful return in 2024.

The week-long programme, running from Monday 27th October – Sunday 2nd November, will see Britain’s butchers’ shops, retailers and sausage manufacturers highlight the versatility of the British sausage.

The celebrations will be kicked off on Monday 27th October at Butchers’ Hall in London, where winners of the national competition will be crowned. The competition encourages UK sausage producers to enter their best bangers for judging, and organisers are seeking engagement from butchers and independent retailers for this year’s competition.

The UK Sausage Week competition

Hosted at Butchers’ Hall in Smithfield, London, the home of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, the awards luncheon is set at a historic venue. Tickets for the lunch are available now at uksausageweek.com/tickets.

The awards presentations will culminate in the crowning of a new UK Supreme Sausage Champion, given to a product deemed by an industry judging panel to be of ‘exceptional quality’. In 2024, Porky Whites took home the title for its Signature Surrey Pork Sausages, which are produced at its facility in Old Woking, Surrey.

Other winners included butchers who are also WCB Liverymen, with Owen Taylor & Sons awarded Best Cumberland Sausage and Burtons Butchers crowned winner of the Best Beef Sausage category.

This year, the judging panel will be headed up by chief judge Keith Fisher of the Institute of Meat, who will scrutinise each product on its taste, smell and mouthfeel, alongside a whole host of other criteria. Businesses wishing to take part can now register their interest in nominating products online at uksausageweek.com/entry-interest.

The 2025 UK Sausage Week categories:

Retailers run unique promotions for UK Sausage Week

The week offers butchers across the UK the chance to spotlight their sausages, and in previous years has seen a fantastic range of activities launched as a result – from limited edition products to sausage eating contests and customer competitions.

In 2024, Nigel Alderson of Alderson’s Butchers in Darlington handed out over 100 free sausage sandwiches to local businesses, while Thurston Butchers ran a competition with its customers to find a brand new sausage flavour – thus, its Chip Shop Curry Sauce Sausage was born!

Beach Rock Bistro in Norfolk made a Tandoori Naan Dog with Mango Mayonnaise and donated £1 from each Naan Dog to Hospitality Action, and The Sleaford Sausage Shop created a ‘Lincolnshire Foot Long’ sausage.

Graham Yandell MBE, publisher of Meat Management magazine, who organise the initiative, commented: “UK Sausage Week is an excellent way for butchers, producers and retailers to get involved and generate excitement around a staple product.

“It is important for butchers to make the most of the profile UK Sausage Week creates, as participants often report increased sales and engagement as a direct result of unique sausage-focused advertising campaigns. It’s also a great way to remind customers of how versatile the sausage really is – consider introducing a new sausage flavour for the week, sharing recipes or holding competitions.”