A BUTCHER from Bolton is sizzling with success, thanks to the secret ingredient in his award-winning bangers.

Greg Hull has been hailed as the North-west's supreme sausage champion in a contest organised by British Meat.

But he has vowed never to reveal why his porkers taste so good.

Greg, who owns Fraser's Butchers in Great Lever, said: "I've got one secret ingredient for my pork sausages and one for my pork pies. They're both kept under lock and key. Even my staff don't know what they are."

Greg and the hard-working staff at his Rishton Lane shop won seven prizes at the Meat Products Awards -- the butchers' Oscars.

The final of the contest, held at the Reebok Stadium, attracted more than 200 competitors from across the North-west.

Greg's staff were hailed as the region's best traditional pork sausage makers and the region's best pork pie makers. They also collected gold quality awards for their sausages, their pies, their gammon steaks, their jubilee steaks, and for their turkey and apricot sausages.

Father-of-two Greg, aged 42, has been a butcher since he was 16.

Locals tuck into 500lbs of his sausage meat every week as well as eating up to 900 pork pies.

One customer, Faith Barnes, aged 60, of Lever Edge Lane, said: "It's a great butcher's. The staff and very friendly and the sausages are just so tasty."