THE Slinger Group is one of the oldest businesses in East Lancashire. From humble beginnings in 1870 as a family butcher, the company grew to become one of the largest meat producers in the North West.

Until the 1970s, Slingers concentrated on retail butchers' shops and at one time had 30 outlets, mainly in East Lancashire.

In 1975, the opening of a beef boning plant transformed the company's fortunes. The European Community-approved plant moved the company into new markets and the shops were sold in the 1980s, with the proceeds reinvested in a state-of-the-art boning, mincing and cold store plant on one site in Great Harwood.

In the early 1990s, the company expanded its overseas sales and, in 1993, won a Queen's Award for Export Achievement. Between 1989 and 1992, Slingers had grown the export business by more than 300 per cent and the company employed around 200 people.

In 1996, Slingers hit the headlines at the height of the BSE crisis when it challenged the Government in the High Court over its the ban on use of mechanically removed meat from the spinal columns of cattle.

The company claimed the Government had "caved in" over "groundless public fears" about the disease.

An entry on the British Meat Producers' Association website describes Slingers' current export markets as the European Union, South Africa and Sweden. The company sells beef, lamb and pork either in carcass form, cuts, retail packs or offal.

The company is still family-owned with John Slinger listed as managing director and Robert Slinger as sales director.