West London's only kosher butcher, M Lipowicz, has closed after more than 60 years of service to the Ealing community.

Jacky Lipowicz, 80, has been at the helm since his father Menasz, who founded the shop, passed away in 1993.

But altogether, Jacky has been in the trade for 64 years, working in the shop on the Hanger Lane gyratory since 1985 and, for a number of years prior, on Ealing Broadway.

Since taking over the running of the butcher, Lipowicz has witnessed the transformation of the local Jewish community alongside his business partner Andrew Schlagman, noting the gradual dwindling of local customers in recent years.

“When we moved there in 1980, there were 500 members in the shul and you can imagine it was a thriving community,” Lipowicz said. "Now people have moved out of the area.”

Rabbi Hershi Vogel of Ealing Synagogue called the closure of M Lipowicz “a great loss” and added that Lipowicz “was one of the pillars of the Ealing Synagogue going back 50 years”.

“Jacky is an incredibly generous, kind person who took over M Lipowicz when his father passed away, and he took over with diligence and pride.”

The diminished Jewish population contributed to his choice to close the shop, with most business now coming from deliveries to customers in north-west London.

While Lipowicz said he was “very happy to take a step backwards”, he hasn’t completely left the trade behind. He will continue his 38-plus year tenure as the chairman of the Licensed Kosher Meat Traders’ Association and, at least until August, he plans to help Schlagman get his eponymously named kosher butcher in Mill Hill Circus, which opened on July 1, up and running.

Schlagman, who said he had known Lipowicz “for years and years and years”, was also born into the meat trade and intends to continue Lipowicz’s legacy of traditional kosher butchery.

But Lipowicz is already thinking about retirement and what he will do with his newfound freedom. He said he was looking forward to the opportunity to “take my granddaughter to school because I've never taken my children or my grandchildren to school because I’ve always been working”.

He also plans to watch cricket matches at Lord’s, daven with his minyan and go on a holiday to Israel for a month.