Pielicious pie awarded Silver at British Pie Awards

Craig and Rebecca Mee of Henley based, Pielicious, are the proud recipients of a Silver, Highly Commended award served up at The British Pie Awards last week. The pair’s Steak and Stilton pie came up trumps in its first ever showing as, despite being in business 9 years, the time had never been right to enter before, so to win an accolade on their first ever try meant Craig and Rebecca were over the moon.

“We decided to enter this year and sent off 5 different pies. You have to package them up, surround them with cool packs and send them off with Royal Mail. Jenny at the postoffice took them from me, but it’s rather nerve wracking as you just have to hope that they get there in time, and in one piece!” Rebecca explained.

“They went on the Monday to be received by Wednesday for judging Wednesday afternoon. If you are successful, you then get an email inviting you to the awards ceremony held in Melton Mowbray on the Friday. When the email came through, we were really excited but also had no idea what we’d won! We didn’t even know which category! We had to wait until our names came up…it was really exciting – and a bit nerve wracking!”

Pielicious bake their pies in the kitchens of the Over 60s club in Henley, where Craig is the chef and Rebecca works part time as one of the managers. Having been a chef in London some years ago, Craig explained that he had become frustrated that he couldn’t source a decent frozen pie, so when he was made redundant he decided to make it his mission to create one of his own. Now with a range of 12 pies, Pielicious really took off during Covid. Craig would cook and Rebecca would deliver to homes – originally offering their pies locally through the estate WhatsApp groups, but quickly word spread and they ended up delivering on a much wider basis.

The pair now have a very loyal customer base and are regulars on the markets in Henley, Woodley and Caversham. Pies can also be ordered through their Facebook and Instagram sites. They have also proudly supplied The Angel on the Bridge for 10 years – amongst other places in and around Henley.

“It has been really nice to get this recognition after all our hard work. We’ve had so many people congratulating us! We were up in Melton Mowbray for the lunchtime awards on the Friday – where we were served last years winning pie for lunch – and then on Saturday and Sunday we were back on the markets – with our award in pride of place of course! It’s been a whirlwind! We get feedback soon and so will take a look at what was said and keep evolving our pies. Hopefully next year we’ll get a Gold – or maybe even Supreme Pie!”