Porterford Butchers
Porterford is the City of London's only butcher, trading on Watling Street since 1983, and it grills its own meat into baguettes over the same counter that sells A5 Japanese wagyu ribeye (City AM; venue site).
Why go
Say what it is first: a butcher's shop, run since 1983 by two friends and now by the family of the surviving owner, that opens a hot counter from 7am and shuts it at 2pm (City AM, 4 Aug 2025; venue site). The retail side is the part a cook cares about. They stock Japanese wagyu ribeye graded A5 BMS 10-12 at GBP 49.95 for 250g, Australian F1 Icon XB ribeye at GBP 29.95, and wagyu beef tallow in a spray can, all of it shipped nationwide in refrigerated vans (venue site). The hot counter runs off the same fridge, which is why a sausage and onion baguette with roast potatoes and a drink costs GBP 6.50 and a fillet steak brioche with chimichurri costs GBP 10 (City AM; venue site). The queue down Watling Street is the tell.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the sausage and onion baguette with the roast potatoes rather than the hash browns, and English mustard, which is City AM's specific call:
there's none of the health-kick narrative at Porterford, just nicely fatty, totally indulgent meat
1. The Philly cheese steak baguette is the other standing order. Meat boxes of wings and tenders if you want volume. - Avoid: arriving after 2pm, when the hot counter stops. City AM's line is that the staff "don't get a break from late-morning until around 2.30pm, when the queue is constant," and advises getting "in before 2pm for the best cuts."
What locals & experts say
- City AM, Adam Bloodworth (2025): the sausage and onion baguette is
a mind blowingly decent lunch,
and atGBP 6.50 it also comes with a drink, which just feels like stealing.
The Philly cheese steak isa frankly obnoxiously hefty lunchtime option.
Written up as a Toast the City awards nominee.1 - The Infatuation, David Paw (2017):
You wouldn't think that a butcher shop off Cheapside would have one of the best to-go lunches in the City, but Porterford has been cranking them out for ages. The draw is inexpensive, high-quality meat, which is why there's always a (fast-moving) queue.
Filed Unrated.2 - Local rec: Jeff has been, rates the Philly cheesesteak the classic order, and thinks the place is overrated. REAL.
Good to know
- Timing: hot food Monday to Friday, 7am to 2pm. No weekend service.
- Booking: none. Queue at the counter, takeout only.
- Hygiene: the register rates it 2, improvement necessary, at the City of London inspection of 5 March 2026, with cleanliness and condition of structure scoring 15 and confidence in management 10 (FSA). Worth knowing before you join the line.
- Dietary: the web shop lists a vegan retail category, but the venue publishes no allergen, gluten or vegetarian statement for the hot counter, so treat it as unaddressed.
- Location: 72 Watling Street, a few steps from where Watling Street meets Bow Lane, between Mansion House and St Paul's.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Order: "Philly cheesteak is classic." REAL, his spelling.
- Note: "Iconic. I think it's a bit overrated." REAL.
Verdict
could-visit — A working butcher in the Square Mile that grills its own meat into baguettes for GBP 6.50 and sells A5 BMS 10-12 wagyu over the same counter is a genuinely specific thing, and the last butcher standing in the City is a piece of food history worth knowing. It does not earn a detour: the format is a queue and a paper bag, the current inspection is an FSA 2, and the traveler whose list this is has already been and calls it a bit overrated.