Pie – Life of Pies

A PIE BOOK UPDATE: THE LAST HURRAH (SURELY)

jimmy2026-08-03T15:25:40+01:00August 3rd, 2026|

Hurrah indeed as many of you will say. Someone pointed out to me the other day that Life of Pies is currently retailing for nearly £30 for a paperback on Amazon and Ebay at one point. And that’s for a “nearly new” version.

Not to labour the point but I have been half arsedly selling it for half price at £4.99 plus p&p on my own site here, and I still have considerable stock left as follows:

First edition: 3 boxes, circa 60 copies

Second edition: Between 3 and 5 boxes, 60-100 […]

Thank you for saving Life of Pies!

jimmy2023-12-05T16:36:50+00:00December 5th, 2023|

Dear all

I just wanted to send out a personal thanks to everyone who bought a copy of Life of Pies over the past month or so. In total, I sold 182 copies, after shifting around 5 all year previously. I had about 80 copies in my warehouse (shed) and have managed to sell those and get half of the warehouse stock sent to me to ship to actual customers!!

I am a decent accountant, an average writer but I am woeful at marketing and it is completely my own fault that it got to this […]

The perfect gift for the pie lover in your life

jimmy2022-12-14T12:32:36+00:00December 14th, 2022|

It’s that time of year when I get a steady trickle of orders for Life of Pies. It is over 8 years old now but still garners a bit of attention, because there is nothing else like that out there, in book form at least.

You can pick up a copy for just £4.99 plus P&P, either for yourself or for someone who might appreciate it. It is a weighty affair with a good sprinkling of FULL COLOUR PIE PHOTOS in it.

All in all, it is over 380 pages and documents a light hearted journey around the country […]

Life of Pies: just a few copies left

jimmy2021-07-06T14:41:56+01:00July 6th, 2021|

If you are wondering why this blog hasn’t been updated for a while, it is because I have moved on to a new, exciting follow up project.

The Good Pie Guide is coming soon, and I am busy compiling details from hundreds of pie purveyors up and down the country. If you want to add your favourite or suggest a pie I need to try, just drop me a line here.

I am down to less than a hundred copies of Life of Pies, so you can still buy a copy here for […]

Dickinson and Morris Melton Mowbray Pork Pie

jimmy2020-03-09T14:15:42+00:00March 9th, 2020|

While it was British Pie week last week, I found myself once again in Melton Mowbray and of course, there’s only one place to go when you find yourself in Melton, and that is to pay a visit to Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe to try a Dickinson and Morris Melton Mowbray Pork Pie (£1.70).

The Melton Mowbray bit is important. For this is a geographically protected pie. The town of Melton Mowbray, home for over twelve years to the British Pie Awards, is a hub of pie based activity. It is the only place I have seen signs directing people […]

Freed From Desire

jimmy2020-02-26T14:05:37+00:00February 26th, 2020|

You don’t get much in this life for free, or so they say. They also say that you get what you pay for. Whoever “they” are that is.

Anyway, I’ve developed a morbid fascination with the whoopsie aisle at Asda. I’ve never worked out whether it is because we, as a country are in a sad state of affairs, or people just like a bargain but there’s always a scrum of people hanging around waiting for the next cheap deal.

Personally, I’m not on the breadline but neither am I a millionaire, still waiting for the book to go global, six years […]

Great North Pie Co: Lancashire Cheese and Onion Pie

jimmy2020-02-07T16:39:23+00:00February 7th, 2020|

I’ve had previous with these chaps, I featured the Boxing Day Turkey Curry Pie in Life of Pies. I’ve always fancied their Lancashire Cheese and Onion Pie but it has always eluded me. Or rather, I have chosen a meat based option.

At the time, and I don’t know if this is still the case, they used to do a changing menu every quarter featuring four rotating pies with innovative flavours. As I recall, they did a pie with nettles in it once, ouch!!

Anyway, this one was purchased from Booths and although I can’t remember if it was identified as a […]

Steve’s Steak and Veg Pie

jimmy2020-01-06T17:54:14+00:00January 6th, 2020|

This is an interesting one, a perk of the job, well, the hobby as it stands. A Man City fan I know, Johnny Stafford got in touch to tell me about his mate who makes his own pies and sell them at work. And guess what? He made me one! It would be a travesty not to review it, wouldn’t it?

In return for the pie, I sent Steve a present money can’t buy, a priceless* copy of my book, Life of Pies.

Before Christmas, I finally managed to nip out to Eccles to transfer it from Johnny’s freezer to mine, and […]

Merry Xmas, here’s a Delish Christmas Pie!!

jimmy2019-12-24T12:42:37+00:00December 24th, 2019|

Barrow remains a good source of pies with many decent independent outlets. It’s all a matter of taste, of course, but I would still put the well-known (via ‘Life of Pies’ and the Hairy Bikers among others) Greens Pie Shop as my favourites.

The new kid on the block is increasing in popularity, however. ‘Deli.sh’ (sic) on Crellin Street is just behind McDonalds on Dalton Road and opposite Portland Walk, the main shopping streets. It is particularly popular with younger people. Website: http://www.delishbarrow.com/

The normal pie offerings are Meat and Potato (£1.70) and Steak and Potato (£1.80) – […]

New pies at the home of Crusty the Pie

jimmy2019-12-12T12:08:49+00:00December 12th, 2019|

Regardless of my views on the selection of caterer for pies at the DW Stadium, home of Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors, there is a new pie supplier providing hot pastry products to sports fans of Wigan and visitors far and wide.

The carefully chosen vendor is Clayton Park of Accrington, you can check out their produce which sits at the creatively chosen URL of www.pietastic.com.
East Lancashire is something of a hot bed (or hot oven if you prefer) on the pie making front with ubiquitous chip shop giants, Hollands, also situated nearby. Neither of them are […]

The Muffin Man Meat and Potato Pie

jimmy2019-09-14T22:18:32+01:00September 14th, 2019|

Saturday January 21^st 2012

It’s highly probable that blood has been spilled over the debate as to who makes the best pies in Wigan. Or pie gravy at least. This is why the question needs answering. There are people who swear by the Muffin Man. Plus it’s in my village so giving it a shit review will see me ostracised by my local community and earn me the nickname “that pie wanker”.

Keep it simple for now:

“Right darling – going getting my hair cut, then I’m getting some petrol. Fancy a pie for lunch?”

It needs to be a local one given we’re […]

Day 1: Hampsons / Sayers Meat and Potato Pie

jimmy2019-09-09T12:17:43+01:00September 8th, 2019|

Somehow, seven years has passed since I embarked on my ground breaking travelogue, the Life of Pies. It wasn’t the first or only book about pies, but it still remains the only book about eating pies, rather than the plethora of attempts at books determined to teach the public as to how to make a good pie. Seems a bit illogical to me. Why bake when you can buy and keep your local butcher, baker or even a candle stick maker in business? LOL, as if people still make a living making candles. Yep, they make a bloody fortune out […]

A Potted pie guide

jimmy2019-05-31T08:53:45+01:00May 31st, 2019|

The beauty of my extensive research (2012-present*) is that whenever I find myself in a foreign town, I always know where to sniff out the best pies.

(*though if truth be known, like most Wiganers, I have been sampling pies for as long as I cut my first teeth)

So it was that after finishing a 10k in Lancaster in a respectable 47.06m, I needed to rebuild my carbohydrate store.
What better place to go, than an old favourite in the form of Potts Pies of Lancaster, Morecambe and Carnforth?

On my way out of […]

Red Hot Pie Action: The Will Grigg pie

jimmy2018-03-17T18:43:25+00:00March 17th, 2018|

As many readers know I’m a Wiganer as well as a pie lover, and let’s face it, the two normally go hand in hand anyway. Following Wigan Athletic’s remarkable run to the quarter final of the FA Cup, the Rolling Pin Bakery in Wigan decided to produce a one off pie to celebrate our centre forward’s goal scoring feats.

Without further ado, your roving reporter, who is technically on a diet, thought it best to go and check it out in the interests of research.

The Will Grigg pie contains chicken, chorizo (pronounced CHH-orizo NOT Kor-izo eh Pie at Night lads?) and […]

Taylor Made!

jimmy2017-10-17T17:42:00+01:00October 17th, 2017|

It’s time for the latest episode of my “pies which didn’t make it into the book (and probably deserved to)” series and today I’m sampling the pies from Derby House, or rather Taylor’s Farm Shop near Ormskirk, West Lancashire.

For all the pies I tried during the making of Life of Pies (copies still available here etc etc http://www.lifeofpies.co.uk/buy) I never visited my local farm shop, so it’s time to rectify that and dive back in on the pie trail.

Derby House is a place where the well-heeled “ladies do lunch” in the heart of rural (rich) West Lancashire, just a […]

The greatest show on earth!!

jimmy2017-08-20T14:38:29+01:00August 20th, 2017|

It’s taken me a few weeks to catch up following my trip to Melton Mowbray but yes PIE FEST is really a thing, and it really is a festival of PIES!!

I was kindly invited there on the Sunday to talk about my book and my exploits whilst writing it, along with my experiences of pie traditions up and down the country and what I like to see in a good pie.

It was great to speak in front of close to 100 attentive people in the Pie Theatre and following my talk, I set up stall and managed to sell a […]