A 19-YEAR-OLD butcher is top of the chops after being named best student in the country by the Meat Training Council.
Ben Hardi, from Huddersfield, has been an apprentice at Hazlehead Farm Shop, Millhouse Green, for nearly three years.
Ben, now a qualified butcher, was nominated by his tutor at Leeds' Thomas Danby College when he finished his training last year.
He received the best apprentice award in meat and poultry by the Master Butcher of the Meat Training Council at a ceremony at Butchers' Hall, London, last week.
Ben said: "I knew my tutor was putting me in but I was amazed to win, it was a surprise.
"I just kind of fell into butchery; I was offered the apprentice job at the farm shop then got a place at college a few weeks later. I enjoy working here and want to stay for a while because it's such a nice area."
