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Denby Dale Pies is a manufacturer of pies founded in the 'Pie Village' of Denby Dale, which is renowned for its world-famous and record-breaking creations. Their products are sold in branches of Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, the Co-operative Food, Asda, Morrisons and Booths.
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History
The village's renowned pies are a tradition dating back 220 years, usually baked to celebrate events and occasions of national importance. A total of ten commemorative pies have been baked, as part of the 9 festivals held since the year 1788. The first of these is thought to have marked the return to sanity of King George III, with the home of the first Denby Dale pie being the White Hart Inn. 200 years later, in 1988, another was baked to mark two centuries since the first. The BBC Radio One Roadshow broadcast live from the event, which served over 90,000 people and would see the village awarded a Guiness World Record for the world's biggest meat and potato pie. Pies have been baked in Denby Dale to celebrate Wellington's victory at Waterloo, as well as the 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws, which would see lower bread prices. The original 1887 pie baked to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee spoiled, " the most famed incident in pie history is recorded for this, the fourth pie - once the pie appeared at Norman park, having been cooked at the White Hart by Halifax bakers led by a London chef, crowds swamped it. Yet as they dug into it, a rather unpleasant smell arose! - “emitted such an intolerable stench that a number of persons were injured in the stampede to escape.” ".( and was this the pie trampled underfoot ? ) A second was created a week later, known as the Resurrection Pie. 50 years later, another pie was created to mark the anniversary of the move. Ten years after the end of the first World War, a belated victory pie was created to raise funds for Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. In 1964, another was baked to celebrate the year's four royal births, though the event was marred by tragedy as four of the main organisers were killed in a car crash on returning from filming a program about the pie at the ITV Studios. In 2000, a special Millennium Pie was baked, serving over 22,000 people. The first slice was cut by well-known cricket umpire Dickie Bird. In time for the UK's National Pie Week 2012, Yorkshire laureate Ian McMillan wrote and performed a 'Piem' devoted to Denby Dale's creations. The Denby Dale Pie Company was sold to Chapel Foods Ltd. in 2013, and became part of Country Style Foods in 2015.
Television Features
Denby Dale's pies have been featured several times on mainstream television. In 2011, the Hairy Bikers featured the village's most famous export in an episode of their series The Hairy Bikers' Mum Knows Best. The pie which marked the 1887 Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was recreated, based on historical accounts of the recipe, in a 2012 episode of Channel 5's The Great Northern Cookbook – weighing in at 1.5 tons. Perhaps most notably, Denby Dale's Pies were featured in a September 2015 episode of the hit BBC One show The Great British Bake Off.
Awards and recognition
Denby Dale Pies was judged to produce the country's best meat and potato pie in a contest held by ITV's The Paul O'Grady Show in 2004, with the final of the competition held live on the teatime chat show. In 2012, the Denby Dale Chicken and Gravy Pie was awarded silver in the British Pie Awards. In July 2013, Princess Anne visited the company's flagship factory in Denby Dale. Two of the company's products were shortlisted for recognition in the 2015 FreeFrom Food Awards.