Pies and pasties: From medieval halls to the high street
Few parts of British food lore run as deep as the pie. It is older than the chip shop, older than the Sunday roast, and in one form or another it has fed working people across this country for centuries. So, it's no wonder that you can find pies in almost every pub, and a sausage roll on every high street. The best news? Now you can enjoy them right here from our Best of Local shop too – baked by our local family bakery Thatchers in Stockport.
So how did the humble pie become such a staple of British food, especially up here in the North?
Where it all started
Pies have been part of the British diet since at least the 13th century. But the earliest versions were not the golden, buttery delights we know and love today. The pastry casing, known as a "coffyn", was thick and tough, designed to seal in the filling and preserve it rather than to be eaten itself. It was practical first, delicious second.
In those early centuries, pies were mostly the preserve of the wealthy, with fillings like venison, eels, and elaborate spiced meats. Pastry at a feast was a statement of status as much as a meal.
The pasty followed a similar path. Documented in Britain since the 13th century, it began as food for the upper classes before becoming something altogether more functional. By the 17th and 18th centuries, working families in Cornwall had adapted it into a complete, portable meal: potato, onion, swede, and whatever meat could be afforded, sealed in a shortcrust case and carried down the mine. The thick crimped edge served as a handle. Miners with dusty hands would hold it there and discard the crust after eating, keeping the edible portion itself clean.
A Northern staple
Up here, the pie took its own shape. The classic meat and potato pie became a staple of Northern England, found in homes, chip shops, and football grounds in equal measure.
The sausage roll, the cheese and onion slice, the steak slice - each of these has a similar origin story. Pastry as a means of getting good, filling food from one place to another without fuss.
The history of pies and pasties is really a history of people making the most of simple ingredients. Seasonal veg, a cut of meat, and you had something nutritious and tasty that kept you going through a long shift or a cold afternoon.
Tradition, delivered to your door
Thatchers bakery in Stockport has been baking since 1891, but the latest lineup of savoury pies and pastries has only just been added to the range.
Head to our Best of Local bakery to find a proper Steak and Kidney Pie, a Meat and Potato Pie with tender beef and fluffy potato in a shortcrust case, a Peppered Steak Slice in golden puff pastry, a Cheese and Onion Slice with mature cheddar, a Traditional Beef and Veg Pasty, and, of course, classic Sausage Rolls.
