Top chef says butchers are the upper crust

A STRATFORD-UPON-AVON butchers has been lauded for its award-winning pork pies by Jamie Oliver’s food magazine, Jamie.

The classic pork pie, made by Walter Smith butchers at Stratford Garden Centre, beat off competition from 15 other businesses, including Fortnum and Masons in London, to be named the country’s best pork pie.

Walter Smith has a number of shops across the Midlands, but the pie made by the shop in Stratford is the one that came out on top with a group of tasters from the magazine.

Matt Smith, assistant manager at Walter Smith in Stratford, said: “They came to us and asked us to enter a pie in the competition and a couple of weeks ago they got in touch with us to say we had won the taste test out of 15 other pies across the country.

“This is massive for us to be honest, it’s fantastic to be successful in a national competition. I believe our pies are unique, everything is done in the shop in Stratford, from getting a side of free-range pork to the finished pie.

"We’ve had a little bit of extra business off this news, but it was only printed in the magazine last week.”