British Pie Awards 2018

Ben, Pierateer Rob and Pierateer Sam at the British Pie Awards 2018

The 10th annual British Pie Awards took place just a few short weeks ago and we were delighted to once again be there for judging and full media coverage via our Live feed! 

Held in the heart of pork pie country - Melton Mowbray - we saw a record 146 judges rate a record 963 pies from across Britain! And we were delighted to share on Day Five of British Pie Week that the British Pie Awards Supreme Champion of 2018 was Turner's Pies!

🏆‼️ WE DID IT ‼️🏆

Absolutely honoured to be named the SUPREME CHAMPION 2018 at this years #britishpieawards #BritishPieWeek

Our Steak & Ale Pie overcame stiff competition from 963 other pies to be crowned #1 In the UK.

More news to follow soon...MR T@BritishPies pic.twitter.com/0yTfZvMDUJ

— Award Winning Pies (@TurnersPies) March 10, 2018

And after their win, Turner's Pies immediately set their eyes on another award - this time becoming the number 1 pie on Pierate!

Thanks guys, we were waiting for the official press release before we told the world but it seems that’s not coming today. We’re chuffed! Only accolade we need now is no1 pierated!!

— Award Winning Pies (@TurnersPies) March 9, 2018

Back to the Awards judging on Wednesday 7th March and we were glad to be back where it all began as the 10th annual British Pie Awards headed home to St Mary's Church in the heart of Melton Mowbray. You may remember that last year the Awards took place at an alternative local venue while the church was refurbished but I can confirm it was well worth the wait, as the new renovations looked great and the church really is the home of the Pie Awards!


After a three hour trip from Gloucester to Melton Mowbray via Birmingham, Pierateers Sam and Rob, ably accompanied by friend of the Pierateers Ben, arrived for the 10th annual British Pie Awards. It was the first time we'd driven to the Awards and after a light breakfast and coffee upon arrival, it was time to head to see the newly refurbished church. We weren't disappointed! And having settled in, it wasn't too long before new chairman Colin Woodhead conducted the all important judges briefings, where consistency in judging was the main point stressed to the judges.

Then it was over to Chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association Matthew O'Callaghan to welcome people and share a few top tips about judging, before the Vicar of St Mary's church in Melton Mowbray blessed the pies with a brief prayer, thanking the pie makers for all their hard work in baking! Amen to that!!

St Mary's Church in Melton Mowbray

The Pork Pie Class at the British Pie Awards 2018

There were once again a number of celebrities judging the pies, in particular TV's Andy Clarke on the Pork Pie Class and food critic Charles Campion. And we were delighted to catch up with a number of friends of the blog such as Katie "AwayDayPieGirl" Peel and "Life of Pies" author Martin Tarbuck, as well as Awards hosts Matthew and Stephen Hallam.

As always there were a number of interesting occurrences, such as controversy in the Savoury Pie (cold) class as a pie with a stilton lid - rather than pastry - got disqualified and a chicken and banana pie was rated in the Chicken pie class! Plus there were once again some interesting flavours in the Speciality Meat and Game Pie class. Rabbit, venison, wild boar and duck pies were among the entries there!

Speciality Meat and Game Pies

So who were the big winners and notable entries in the British Pie Awards 2018? Some of the pie-lights this year included:

- As previously mentioned, Turner's Pies from West Sussex grabbing the big prize - the Supreme Champion 2018 for their Steak and Ale pie. This was also followed up with the win in the small producers award category too! Many congratulations to them - we look forward to getting our hands on one to rate soon!

- Lesson Family Butchers winning the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie class. This was a turn up for the books, as last year the Supreme Champion was from this class, but this year the Dickinson and Morris Pork Pie didn't even win the class!

- Ben's Kitchen - who won the small producer award last year - won the Beef and any flavour class for their Beef Bourguignon pie.

Stephen Hallam and Pierateer Rob!

- MyPie London won the Chicken and other meat class with their Chicken, Smoked Ham & Tarragon pie, which follows on from last year's vegetarian class win! (You may also be aware we pie rated this chicken pie a massive 6.39/7 when we reviewed it!)

- The Speciality Meat and Game pie class was won by Stanbury Wild Game Pies, whose pies we ate at the end of British Pie Week (see Day Six and Day Seven reviews) and which will be formally rated in the next week.

- The Apple Pie class was won by none other than Graham Aimson, whose name may well ring a bell as in the past he won the class (and Supreme Champion) when working for Morecambe FC but this year won the class while working for Kendall Rugby Club! Find out more about Graham's transfer here.

The full list of winners can be found on the British Pie Awards website.

Once again there was a great array of top pies made from hundreds of pie makers (many small producers of less than 5 employees!) It certainly reminds us we have many more pies to set sail towards on the Pierate Ship! We'll keep searching these Great British Isles for more top pies and, as always, let you know how they all rate on the 7 Cs of pie rating!!

RAS