THERE may not have been the razzmatazz of Sydney.

But Bolton butcher Greg Hull still felt champion after sizzling success in Holland at his trade's equivalent of the Olympics.

The owner of Fraser's butchers did not quite manage to better Steve Redgrave, the awesome oarsman who won his fifth gold medal in Australia, but he did pick up four golds in a single weekend.

Top butchers from Europe, the United States and Japan were invited to the Fresh Food 2000 competition in Utrecht.

None, however, could compete with the world-beating sausages made by a seven-strong team in Rishton Lane, Great Lever.

Mr Hull said he was conscious that he was flying the flag for Britain against nations more famed for their food, such as France and Italy.

He said: "You are representing your country not just yourself. You are an ambassador for British Food."

Fraser's collected gold medals for the best pork sausage, Cumberland sausage, shepherd's pie and dry cured bacon, and also took silver for their home-cooked boiled ham.

Victory last weekend was the latest triumph for a butcher's which has already attracted a national reputation. Restaurants and caterers across the country are now expected to inundate the shop with orders.

"We'll shift a large amount of sausages now," said Mr Hull. "We expect to sell a ton in the next week because of interest created by these awards.

"We were making them non-stop yesterday. There's sausage everywhere."

Staff at Fraser's, however, are well used to being busy.

Mr Hull said: "There's a lot of people who have moved out of Bolton who when they come back visiting family call in so they can fill their freezers up.

"We send stuff by mail order all over the country and we get very busy. At Christmas people can wait up to three hours to be served."

Mr Hull puts his world-beating bangers down to 'meat-iculous' attention to detail.

"There's no secret, it's just hard work," he said. "There are things we make that don't win anything and you have got to sit down with a microscope and work out why it wasn't good enough.

"You learn a lot as you are going along. You are constantly trying to improve recipes all the time."

The store already takes orders via e-mail and staff are working on an Internet site to further develop national sales.