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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Emma Gill

Wigan bakery's 'pepper pie' is a 1,000 a day best seller as age-old family recipe still going strong

As British Pie Week gets underway, one Wigan bakery is celebrating its best selling pie that's been made for generations.

The meat and potato pie is a favourite among Dawsons customers, well known for its peppery flavour.

So much so in fact that most customers simply refer to it as the 'pepper pie' or the 'sloppy pie' because of its runny filling.

The bakery and confectionery chain, which has shops in Atherton, Leigh, Tyldesley and Astley, sells 1,000 of them every day and makes them overnight at the bakery, which is based at its Atherton site.

Read more: Lidl shoppers 'nearly hit the floor' over 'disgusting' price of ham

The meat and potato with pepper, otherwise known as the 'pepper pie' is a favourite with customers (Manchester Evening News)

It's been somewhat of a resurgence for the company over recent years.

Established in 1910, the original shop and bakery were in Shuttle Street, Tyldesley, opposite the swimming baths.

After a short period of closure with the company going into administration, new owner Michael Smith bought the name and rights and reopened in 2018, with the Atherton store.

Five years later and as well as now having the four stores, there are two Jiffy vans that sell the goods, travelling regular routes and the products are also available in some local shops and convenience stores.

Jodie Hodgkinson at Dawsons in Tyldesley (Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)

Jodie Hodgkinson, who works in the Tyldesley store with mum Judith Stevens, said: "It's a family business so the owner Michael is my mum's cousin.

"Our most popular pie is our famous meat and potato pie and it’s well known for being peppery. We have the original recipe from the original shop - it was the Dawsons family recipe.

"We sell about 60 pasties a day from each shop and have around 30 of each of the pies. The Jiffy vans were really popular during Covid and sales have just carried on really.

The Dawsons store in Tyldesley, Wigan (Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)

"They mainly go to industrial estates for workers but also some residential areas, particularly where elderly people live, who might otherwise struggle to get to us."

As well as the 'pepper pie', the bakery sells a wide range of pasties and pies, including another popular one - the Aunt Betty's Mushy Pie, which is again meat and potato but with mushy peas inside.

To celebrate British Pie Week, it's giving customers 10% off the pepper pies until Saturday, bringing the cost down from the usual £2.20 to £1.98.

British Pie Week takes place every year on the first full week of March and was started back in 2007 by Jus-Rol. This year it runs from March 6 to 12.

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