We paid a visit to Farmer Tom Jones, a whole carcass butcher in Bermondsey’s Spa Termius Arches. Supplying a sturdy list of restaurants including St John, Camille and The Camberwell Arms, Farmer Tom Jones straddles the line between chef and butcher, working to their clients' unique requests and desires.

Camille, St John, Camberwell Arms - you have a pretty knockout client list, what are you looking for when working with new customers and restaurants?

We are looking for clients who understand what we do and are happy to work with us. We don't work the same way as the majority of meat suppliers and we are nowhere near their size.

A perfect client is happy to work within the structure of our direct from farmer supply lines, and be able to be flexible across their menu to reflect the whole carcass rather than just the prime.

Do you take specific requests, what have been some of the more out there orders?

Because we are majority whole carcass, we only have what we have, so sometimes we can furnish requests, but not always. Having said that Elliot from Camille loves an udder every now and again, and we've had the odd squirrel hunting chef from time to time.

You age beef for a little longer than most butchers, right?

This isn't quite right, we aim for beef to be a minimum of 4 weeks aged, and will happily take something further if the body looks like it can take it or a client has requested it.

In the last few years it has felt a little like there is a macho trope of aging beef for increasingly longer times. I can't speak for all beef, but I’ve no doubt that majority grain fed beef for example needs longer to age in order to derive any discernible flavour.

Working with majority grass fed beef, we'd like for the aged characteristic not to hide the intrinsic flavour of the animal's diet, ultimately the ageing should be working to enhance the flavour of good beef, and to allow for the breakdown of the muscle fibres towards a more tender finish, but its not a route to flavour on its own.

You’ve been in the butchery game for a long time, farming and sourcing in Herefordshire since 2002, what made you decide to open a shop in London?

Tom has indeed been farming and sourcing animals for London restaurants for over 20 years, and had been looking for a shop in London to grow into for a big part of that.

Spa Terminus, our landlords represent pretty much the apex of wholesale suppliers in the UK (being owned and run in part by Monmouth Coffee and Neal's Yard Dairy) so to have their support has been instrumental in the decision to move operations to London and try and get excellent meat to more of the cities best restaurants.

Do you have a particular ethos when it comes to farming and butchery, how does Farmer Tom Jones differ to other butchers?

Tom is a farmer and Alex and I are chefs, it’s not a mix you see much in the meat supply game. We are thinking about meat in terms of how the farming effects the eating and it feels like that is our principle USP. We buy native breed animals, farmed in systems that we're proud to support and work with chefs who understand and place trust in our diligence in terms of understanding their needs and the needs of the farmers we represent.