Our Story
Protected Geographical Indicator
The Stornoway Black Pudding Producers Association was formed in 2006 to assist with the application for “Protected Geographical Indicator” status for our iconic product.
Stornoway Black Pudding has now been given official recognition from the EU – protecting it against unauthorised imitation.
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead in announcing that Stornoway Black Pudding has been awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, under the EU's Protected Food Name (PFN) scheme, reminded consumers they get the utmost guarantee that they are buying the genuine, premium product.
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said:
"Stornoway Black Pudding is a world-renowned delicacy that truly deserves protected status which guarantees the provenance of this iconic Scottish product.
“PGI status is widely recognised as a sign of true provenance and has undoubtedly helped increase valuable export sales while enhancing Scotland's reputation for having some of the best produce in the world.
“The award of PGI status is excellent news for the local area and testament to the hard work of the Stornoway Black Pudding Association and the four butchers who worked in partnership to grasp the opportunity to protect their premier product.
“It is important that people know where their food comes from – this certification gives customers from home and abroad the guarantee that what they are buying is the genuine product, made in Stornoway, to the consistently high levels of quality they expect.
"Scotland is the destination for high quality produce and there is massive potential for us to take advantage of the PFN scheme. With interest in local food having never been greater, I would urge Scottish companies and producers to consider how they can take advantage of this scheme.”
Rona MacDonald, Manager of Charles Macleod Ltd, said:
“The Stornoway Black Pudding Producers Association are delighted to have achieved recognition through the PGI accreditation for our product.
“It has been a long, hard fought journey and we have been so encouraged by the support that we have received from our loyal staff and customers, the Scottish Government, Defra and our local politicians.
“The feedback we have received from our fan base across the world has been so positive; so many folk hold the iconic Stornoway Black Pudding close to their hearts and so supported our campaign to protect our product from “copycat” manufacturers.
“The Stornoway Black Pudding has been made in the Outer Hebrides for hundreds of years on the crofts and so the emergence of imitation “Stornoway Style” black puddings in the market place proved to be a very real threat to the economic well being of the Stornoway Butchers’ businesses that trade in a national and international market place.
“Our aim has always been to protect the Stornoway brand - it’s a food product that is intrinsically linked back to the Outer Hebrides and we have a duty to safeguard the islands food heritage. We are extremely thankful to all our supporters who have helped us over the last five years.”
The Butchers
Being a family business that stretches back over six decades, our on-going success has been built on two firmly established principles: Top quality meat with excellent customer service and attention to detail.
With the wholesome richness of the island pastures and an environment that very few can surpass, our meat is consistently of the highest order. We know all our suppliers personally, so you can rely that we only ever use the best products around.
Also a keystone in our business is customer service. Behind everything we do is the thought that we must not live up to customer expectation: we must exceed it! Like so many small businesses in the UK we trade on our reputation. And ours is a precious commodity. So let us tell you this: you will be delighted with our products and services. If not, we want to hear about it.
Our History
In the early 1900s, Murdo MacLeod left the village of Keose on the Isle of Lewis bound for South America to work on a Patagonian sheep farm. An expert judge and buyer of livestock, Murdo's employer, Jose Menendez, held him in high esteem. So much so, that on his return to the Isle of Lewis, Murdo was asked to include Menendez in the name of his first-born child. On setting up home in Ropework Cottage, Stornoway, Murdo and wife, Christina thus became parents to Charles Menendez MacLeod.
Growing up in close proximity to the present day shop, Charles was educated in Achmore and Stornoway before gaining an agricultural degree from Aberdeen University.
After wartime service in North Africa and Europe, Charles set up the butchery business bearing his name at Ropework Park, Stornoway in 1947. Together with wife, Mabel, a nursing sister from Macduff on the east coast of Scotland, they raised a family of two, Iain and Charles, the present proprietors of Charles MacLeod.
After his untimely death in 1967, Charles sen. was interred on Eilean Chalium Chille (St Columba's Isle), part of Crobeag Farm, South Lochs, which he had acquired in 1958.
Charlie Barley
MacLeod is the most common name in Lewis and therefore, as is the case throughout Gaeldom, patronymics or nicknames are popularly used in place of surnames for ease of identification.
Almost inevitably Charles M MacLeod was renamed and rhymed with Barley - an appellation has naturally passed to his sons, Iain and Charles.
Crobeag Farm
Charlie Macleod worked on farms as a young man and returned home (from wartime service) to start up business as a wholesale and retail butcher in Stornoway in 1947 on the site where the shop still stands. In 1958 he purchased Crobeag Farm, including St. Colm’s Isle, from Roderick Macleod (Ruaraidh Mor), a native of Balallan. The stock and equipment included in the sale lists a new boat valued at £50, 78 ewes, 72 sheep and 78 lambs on the Island and 67 ewes, 48 lambs, 2 rams and 4 bullocks in Crobeag. Charlie decided to invest money in regenerating the land and building up the stockholding on both sides of the loch. In the early ‘sixties, a coaster was chartered to bring a cargo of lime up from Glasgow and that policy of expansion and regeneration remains a driving force within the company.
During the Second World War, Mabel MacCallum, a native of Macduff, Banffshire, came to work as a nurse at the Lewis Hospital, Stornoway. She met and married Charles Macleod shortly afterwards and in time they had two sons, Iain and Charles.
In the late ‘fifties and early ‘sixties, Charlie worked hard at building up the quality of stock on St. Colm’s Isle, engaging local labour and became a well-known and highly respected figure in the community. His affection for St. Colm’s Isle and its early association with the establishment of the Christian Church touched him deeply and he was always conscious of the legacy passed into his keeping, enshrined in the old burial ground and crumbling walls of the ancient monastery. On a high point overlooking ‘Caolas’ that separates St. Colms Isle from Crobeag, an area of consecrated ground was set aside with the consent of the Scottish Office and when Charlie died in 1967, at the early age of fifty-two, his remains were laid to rest there.
His widow, Mabel, and their two sons took over control of the business he had set up. The boys were sent off to agricultural colleges and returned to play leading roles in the development of the firm – Iain specialising in the retail and wholesale butchery side, while Charles Junior concentrated on managing the farm. During the Integrated Development Programme in the 1980’s further investment was made in improvement and expansion creating a first class farming environment living in complete harmony with the surrounding crofting community and delivering a high quality product for sale over the company’s counter.
(Excerpt from article donated with kind permission of the Pairc Historical Society)
Patagonia
Patagonia is a geographic region in the southernmost portion of South America. Located in Argentina and Chile, and integrating the southernmost section of the Andes Mountains to the south west towards the Pacific ocean, and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, it includes the territory of Valdivia through Tierra del Fuego archipelago.
Sheep farming introduced in the late 19th century has been a principal economic activity for the region.
“Patagonian sheep-farming owed its origins to British farmers in the Falkland Islands but it was the business acumen of shrewd Spaniards like Menendez and Braun that helped it flourish and spread northwards into Chile and the Argentinian Provinces. Instead of setting up in competition with the ever-growing number of successful British farmers, Menendez recognised their ability and expertise and proceeded to recruit them to his own companies’ payrolls. While some remained there as shepherds throughout their working lives, others were groomed for promotion to positions such as foremen and managers of farms, slaughter houses, freezing plants, shipping and banking enterprises. Many Scottish and English men achieved high-ranking positions of employment throughout Patagonia, island people among them.
One of the many Lewis employees engaged by Menendez was Murdo Macleod of 5 Keose, who was acclaimed as one of the company’s best judges and buyers of stock. So much appreciated was Murdo’s dedication to his work that on announcing to Menendez that he was returning to Lewis to be married, Murdo was requested by his employer that Menendez be included in the name of his first-born. Murdo and his wife Christina, set up home at ‘Ropework Cottage’, Stornoway in 1915 and when their first child was born he was duly christened Charles Menendez Macleod. It was in the year 1947 after returning from army service that Charles M. Macleod established the well-known butcher’s shop in the town known as “Charlie Barley” still ably run by his two sons Iain and Charles.”
Extract from the book “Why Patagonia” with kind permission of the author Greta MacKenzie.