CUSTOMERS at Cookley's Bridge Road butchers know they can expect entertainment as well as fresh meat when they walk in.

And when Kidderminster Harriers are enjoying a successful spell, they know they can also expect the shop to be bedecked in a sea of red and white paraphernalia.

Alan Watkins' colourful celebration of his team's success is legendary and has attracted television cameras at times such as the 1994 FA Cup run and last year's promotion to the Third Division.

But aside from all the attention, Alan considers himself an "old fashioned family butcher" and strives to keep tradition going in the face of overwhelming competition from chain stores.

"I'm not one for supermarkets - there is too much packed meat. I'd rather see meat cut fresh and I give advice on how to cook it to my customers," he said.

Kidderminster-born Alan, 56, is well equipped to dispense such advice.

After leaving Harry Cheshire High School in 1960, he spent two years as a draughtsman before starting as a butcher at his father's Kidderminster business.

He has been in the business ever since, coming to Cookley in 1988 after a spell as an in-demand freelancer. Alan became his own boss when he bought the shop two years later following the previous owner's retirement.

And many locals have been perplexed by his apparent double life as a postman - a phenomenon explained by the existence of identical twin brother, Derek.

Alan bemoans the decline of the traditional family Sunday roast, which joins BSE and more stringent industry rules as factors which have made the last five years "a hard slog" for butchers.

But he has a loyal pool of customers, most of whom he knows by name: "People pay for entertainment - that's what personal service is all about."

Alan met Janet in 1969 and the couple married four years later. They have two children - Matthew, 14, and 24-year-old Bristol University graduate Amanda.

Bowls is another of his great passions. He took it up in 1958 and had his first season in the Kidderminster league a year later.

He has played at county level many times and also taken part in national championships at Worthing.

"I have achieved a lot and enjoyed every minute," he said.

When the summer bowls season ends it is Harriers all the way for Alan, a club shareholder.

He has seen the club through the glorious 1960s, and a grim period in the mid-1970s, right up to last year's watershed, when samples of his vast collection of memorabilia came out once again.

Alan's motives for such celebrations are clear: "I don't do it for publicity!

"I do it because I am a Harriers fan through and through."