Poulton pie-maker's stellar steak and Stilton wins gold at British Pie Awards

The Pork Shop Group on Church Street swiped six prizes at the annual awards in Melton Mowbray last week - including gold for its delicious steak and stilton pie.

The company, which has been trading for 18 years, also picked up four silver awards for its pork, steak and onion and chicken and mushroom pies, and a bronze awards for its steak and farmyard ale pie.

Director Jack Gardner, who took over the business from his dad Lee Gardner in August last year, said: “We are delighted. We’re most proud of our steak and stilton getting that gold, and it was only three points off getting that Supreme Champion award. Of course that’s the award everyone wants, so we’ll have to wait another year for that.

“These are recipes that we have been using for nearly 20 years and so we have had a lot of time to perfect them, we have got a reputation in the area and we have people coming from far and wide for our pies.”

This year’s British Pie Awards saw 140 seasoned experts judge more than 900 pies from 160 professional bakers in 23 different including hot and cold, sweet and savoury, and vegan and vegetarian pies.

The title of Supreme Champion - or ‘Pie of Pies’ - was awarded to the top rump, steak and stilton pie by West Sussex’s Turner’s Pies, replacing last year’s curried sweet potato and butternut squash vegan concoction.

Jack said: “We tried to perfect each of our pies we entered and made sure we were only sending the best of the best.

“We will be entering next year and we’re hoping to win gold with our pork pies, because that’s what we specialise in and that’s what we sell the most of.

“I think being a family-run business makes it more personal for all the staff, and it means more to win as a family business than a corporate business.”