Cold rooms for meat storage
Meat keeps best just above freezing. A chilled room at 0 to +2 °C with steady airflow slows bacterial growth without freezing the surface, and a separate freezer room at -18 to -22 °C holds frozen lines. Butchers' rooms need things a kitchen chiller does not: hanging rails for carcasses and primals, which means a ceiling or a frame strong enough to carry them; stainless steel shelving for boxed and vacuum-packed meat; a washable floor that drains; and enough space to move a carcass on a hook without touching the walls. Most high street butchers need 6 to 20 m² of chilled space. If you handle raw and cooked meat, they go in separate rooms or clearly separated zones. See our cold rooms and freezer rooms pages for how a room is built.
Fish and seafood storage
Fish needs 0 to +2 °C, high humidity and ice. A chilled room with good drainage, a flake ice machine and insulated fish boxes keep whole fish and fillets in condition, and the room is kept separate from meat and dairy so odours do not transfer. On the shop floor, a fish display counter with a stainless steel ice bed and drainage shows the catch at 0 to +2 °C through the day. Many butchers who add a fish counter run it from the same remote refrigeration as the meat counters.
Serve over counters and meat display fridges
For raw meat, choose a gravity-cooled (static) serve over counter: cold air falls gently from a coil above the display, so cuts keep their colour and do not dry out, which is what happens under a ventilated counter's fan-blown air. Ventilated counters suit cooked meats, pies and packed goods. Counters come in straight and curved lengths from about 1.5 m to 3.75 m and can be joined into a run, with glass fronts, lighting chosen to show red meat honestly and a well at 0 to +2 °C. Behind the counter, a back counter with chilled drawers keeps the next cuts to hand. Our serve over counter guide covers the details.
Butchers' shop fitting
We fit out the whole shop, not only the refrigeration: the serve over run and back counters, cutting blocks and preparation tables, wall cladding and flooring that can be washed down, wash-hand basins and sinks where the hygiene rules require them, the cold room and freezer room behind the shop, and the electrics and refrigeration pipework that tie it together. Work is phased so an existing shop keeps trading. See our shop fitting page for how a fit out runs.
Hygiene and compliance for butchers and fishmongers
- Chilled food must be kept at 8 °C or below by law in England; meat and fish are held at 0 to +2 °C in practice.
- Raw and ready-to-eat foods are stored and displayed separately, with separate equipment or clear separation, under your HACCP plan.
- Temperatures are recorded daily; counters and rooms with digital controllers make this quick, and remote monitoring can log it for you.
- Surfaces, floors and panels must be washable and in good repair, so we specify hygienic panel finishes and coved floor junctions.
- Refrigerant is handled by F-Gas certified engineers, with leak checks and records where the charge requires them.
Why butchers and fishmongers choose Alaska Cold
- We design the cold room, the counters and the shop fit out together, so the rails carry the weight, the drains are in the right place and the counters run from one plant.
- Gravity-cooled counters specified for raw meat, not whatever is in stock.
- A written, itemised quotation after a free survey, and 24/7 repairs once you are trading, because a meat room failing over a weekend is a serious loss.
Opening a shop, adding a counter or replacing a tired cold room? Request a free quote and we will arrange a survey.