Butchers' shops are disappearing from high-profile retail streets in Dublin's south city. Traditionally, butchers' shops are family-run businesses operating from family-owned premises and rising property values mean the premises is worth considerably more than the wage the trade can bring in.

FX Buckley of Chatham Street, just off Grafton Street, sold its business premises to a private investor last August after 41 years of trading. The new owner has applied for planning permission to refurbish the building and create two ground-floor retail units of 527 sq ft and 754 sq ft, with additional basement retail space of 1,603 sq ft, three floors of offices with around 1,200 sq ft per floor and two penthouse apartments.

Selling up makes good business sense according to Jim Lyons, former owner of Lyons Butchers in Ranelagh village. That premises was sold prior to auction recently, having traded for 25 years, and is thought to have fetched in excess of £1 million. Dowlings of Upper Baggot Street, in business since 1954, is in the process of being sold to Murphys, the adjacent newsagents, for a six-figure sum, but will remain open until January 2001.

The butcher business is a niche market sector seeing considerable transformation. The traditional sawdust-floored premises disappeared years ago and were replaced by the standard chrome and glass fittings - with a dash of colour from the plastic greenery thrown in - as part of a drive to update Irish premises and introduce high hygiene standards.

Now it would appear that a combination of factors is putting pressure on this niche sector and time is being called on what is still largely a family-run business, as the convenience of large multiples lure customers away from the smaller sole trader.

"Generally, this sector has experienced a very high attrition rate. The last 10 years have seen butchers steadily losing their market share, and rising property values in Dublin, along with other factors, has resulted in a lot of family-run butcher shops closing doors.

"Changing demographics, changing lifestyles with a rising demand for convenience foods and a loss of cooking skills in general, health concerns from incidences of BSE and the growing competition from multiples all play a part in the general decline," explains Pat Brady, Chief Executive of the Associated Craft of Butchers in Ireland, an organisation established a year ago in response to what is happening in the sector.

Bord Bia figures show that butchers' share of the consumer market is falling. A Taylor Nelson survey puts butchers' share of beef sales at 38.6 per cent in 1999, a drop of 3.3 per cent on 1998 figures. In the corresponding time period, multiples' market share rose by nearly 4 per cent.

Today there are some 1,700 butcher shops trading around the State - a figure which is considered an ideal for current demographics. Ireland's flirtation with exotic and new cuisines has a noticeable effect on the traditional market sectors. Eating patterns change and people do not eat as much meat these days.

The convenience food market has seen huge growth in recent years, from microwave meals to prepackaged sandwiches. Changing lifestyles and demographics mean a high percentage of Dublin's population is in the 15 to 35 age group and these people are probably a dab hand with a wok and a stir fry, turning their noses up at beef stew - until of course it becomes the next new trend.

"Overall, beef sales are falling, and so this would translate into a slimming down in the sector. While some shops are closing, others are investing and upgrading hygiene standards and introducing a bit of variety into their stock," according to Pat Brady.

Tommy Buckley, of the FX Buckley Group, which still has butchers' shops in Talbot Street, Moore Street and Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Rathfarnham - along with the FXB chain of steak-house restaurants in Pembroke Street, Monkstown and Castleknock - says the sale of the Chatham Street premises was a strategic business decision, allowing the group to concentrate on its growth areas.

Business is booming in the other locations, and the group has recently established a new factory in Rathcoole from which it supplies the catering trade. New hygiene standards, rising property values and the growing catering/wholesale trade were the main reasons behind the closure of the Chatham Street premises, according to Buckley. "Trade is actually growing at present, and the value of the premises makes this a wise and timely decision," he said.

Lyons Butchers is a 675 sq ft retail unit on Ranelagh's main thoroughfare, located between a hairdressers and an antique shop, with two apartments overhead, a six-bedroom mews residence to the rear and parking for up to 10 cars. The price attained for the shop is presumably much higher than the annual turnover and profit generated by the shop. Timing was also a factor in the decision for Jim Lyons, who in his fifties, said he "is too old to be working so hard".

The changing profile of Grafton Street, Baggot Street and Ranelagh was an influential factor in the decision to sell up in all three cases. Fashion outlets, food outlets and other international led retail units targeting the trend-conscious audience are constantly looking to increase their high-street presence.

Business remains strong on the traditional "butcher, baker and candlestick maker streets" like Wexford Street, Meath Street and Thomas Street and 44 butchers' premises still trade in this catchment area. The profile of these streets and the absence of direct competition from any of the supermarket multiples has allowed the small trader to grow.