Summer holidays means plenty of time for BBQ’s in the garden, and Nicholsons of Whitley Bay is where you need to be going for all your BBQ essentials, wherever you’re from in the North East. They’ve been at their location on Park View in Whitley Bay since 1914, and this family run butchers has so much more to offer than just their high quality meat.

Disclaimer: I received a complementary BBQ pack filled with goodies from Nicholsons of Whitley Bay for the purposes of this review. I’ve been shopping at Nicholsons forever!

First and foremost they are butchers with a huge menu of meat, but to complement this they also have an on-site bakery, so things like their pies, sausage rolls, bread and other bakery goods are all made here too. They have vegetables and a big selection of prepared sides to choose from, so it’s a one stop shop for your BBQ needs. 

A couple of weeks ago I worked with them to sample some of what they have to offer, and I was blown away by the variety. My family have shopped at Nicholsons forever, but like most we tend to go for the same sort of things each time – burgers, sausages and the kebab skewers which are incredible.

You might have sampled Nicholsons bacon at one of the many cafes they supply across the North East, including Kith & Kin who are just a few doors down.

But there’s a whole host of other BBQ food or even just catered food if you don’t want to BBQ that you can get from them, with so many more flavours and varieties than I realised you could do so easily on the BBQ or oven – even if you’re entertaining and cooking for a group. 

Our BBQ box came packed full of incredible things to try, and it lasted us over three different nights. Nicholsons have eight different pre-made BBQ packs in their brochure to choose from, ranging from 2 – 6 people, and £15 – £56 depending on the size and whether you go for standard or deluxe. 

Like I said the packs aren’t just the meat, they’re everything you’d need for the whole meal, so for example they come with things like burger bread buns, mayo, coleslaw, cheese, BBQ sauce, pickles and tomatoes to name a few. These obviously vary depending on the pack you get. 

You can order these in advance to collect on the day, saving you loads of time both in shopping and the preparation. I don’t think we spent more than 20 minutes preparing dinner on any of the evenings we used the Nicholsons BBQ packs. This is ideal for anyone but especially if you’re entertaining a group – the chef doesn’t miss out on the fun.

As well as the pre-made packs, you can also create your own from their big brochure of food. You can find this on the Nicholsons of Whitley Bay website here.

Check out the burgers for example, there’s ten different varieties, including the typical beef or steak burger, gluten free options, or gourmet choices like steak and onion, spicy pork or Greek lamb and feta with black olives. We had the gourmet steak and red onion and they were tremendous, so tender and juicy.

We also had three different chicken varieties, including garlic and herb and indian, sausages, and sirloin steaks. One of my favourite dishes was the halloumi and Mediterranean vegetables – chargrilled on the BBQ was absolutely amazing, as were the lightly salted potatoes and homemade coleslaw. 

There are eleven side salads on the Nicholsons BBQ menu, including Greek, potato salad and cheese savoury. Despite being a butcher and therefore largely meat focused, they also cater for vegetarians with veggie burgers, sausages, kebabs and the halloumi slices. 

We made it all last over three nights, with a mix of meats each time whether it was the burgers, sausages and chicken for a more traditional BBQ, or the sirloin steaks with potatoes and salad another night, and the chicken, halloumi and veg and salad on the third evening.

For general entertaining you might not want to BBQ, so take a look at the Nicholsons Entertaining brochure here. Cooked meat platters, sandwich platters, pies, quiches, meat based dishes and another huge selection of potato varieties and sides can be ordered from here. 

As always we found the Nicholsons food to be fresher and of such good quality compared to supermarket bought. Some of it could be frozen if you got too much and needed to save some, but we planned it for over a full weekend so it was all cooked as bought. We were really lucky with the weather for our weekend of barbecuing, but it could all be done in the oven if not. As it was all pre prepared there really wasn’t much effort needed.

The Nicholson’s Butchers meat and produce are sourced locally with suppliers they have had relationships with for many years. Being family run and with this level of experience the quality is noticeable with everything you eat from them. They can even arrange delivery for you across the North East if you can’t get to the shop for collection. 

To order your food, BBQ packs or entertaining food platters, you can either shop Nicholsons of Whitley Bay online or call up on 0191 252 5250.

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Dog friendly cafes, pubs and restaurants in Whitley Bay

Kith & Kin – the best brunch at the coast

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