Dunkleys wins England's Best Steak Pie competition 2011

The winner of the 'Independent Retail Butcher or Caterer' category went to Mellors Farm Butchers of Newark, Nottinghamshire, and winner of the 'Manufacturer' category was Dunkleys, based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. In the end the panel of expert judges felt that Dunkley's British Beef and Abbot Ale Pie deserved the highly sought after Overall Winner's title. Competition organiser EBLEX presented Dunkleys with its well deserved trophy at the Meat Management awards in London on Wednesday (8 June). Dunkleys pie ambassador, Mark Beeston said: "It's such an honour to be named as the overall winner in the competition – I really can't tell you how thrilled we are! "Our company has been making pies for around 80 years, so we've plenty of experience and knowledge. We only use the finest quality assured beef in our pies because we are passionate about quality and consistency. "We have been making the 'British Beef and Abbot Ale Pie' for one of our customers for five years and it appears on the menu in over 800 of their pubs across the country. We produce around 15,000 units of the pie a week for them; crafting a quality pie which is hand finished to give it a home-made feel." Hugh Judd, EBLEX foodservice project manager, added: "'Dunkleys' 'British Beef and Abbot Ale Pie' was delicious and certainly deserves the overall winner's position and coveted title of 'England's Best Steak Pie'. We wish all the team at Dunkleys many congratulations. "Additionally our congratulations go to Mellors Farm Butchers who did extremely well to win the Independent category with their 'Steak Pie', along with all the other entrants who received gold, silver and bronze awards in what was a very closely fought competition."