The land of the ‘pie-eaters’: Why is Wigan obsessed with pies?
The first seven days of March is British Pie Week; a period where this glorious pastry-and-filling is given its deserved recognition right around the country. But there’s one town in Greater Manchester where every week is Pie Week: Wigan.
The beginning of March marks British Pie Week; a time of year where the glorious pastry-and-filling dish enjoys renewed recognition right around the country. But there’s one town in Greater Manchester where every week is Pie Week. Wigan is known as the land of the ‘pie-eaters’ – although there’s more history behind that nickname than you might think...
In Wigan, they treat pies a little differently / Image: David Blake via Twitter
On a balmy summer evening back in 2002, I was caught up in a current of Wigan rugby supporters, all gently floating in a sea of Cherry and White t-shirtstowards the JJB Stadium turnstiles.
St Helens were in town for rugby league’s flagship fixture, and the game was a near-sellout.
Wigan vs Saints invariably pulls in a massive crowd; with the two teams old enemies since time immemorial. The clubs are separated by just 9 miles and a grassy hill called the ‘Billinge Lump’; representing rival regions since the county borders were moved in 1974 (it’s now Greater Manchester v Merseyside, rather than a Lancashire derby).
The game was one of my first visits to the rugby as a young ‘un, and whilst my memories of the match itself are fuzzy, what has stuck with me ever since is the sight of Saints fans suddenly breaking out into a strange song.
I didn’t quite understand the lyrics, so I tugged on my grandad’s coat sleeve and asked him: “Why do they keep shouting ‘pie-eaters!’ at Wigan?”
The St Helenian answer to that question – and one that’s often told in nearby towns – goes something like this…
In 1926, more than one million coal miners were at loggerheads with pit owners over wages and working conditions. So, in a show of solidarity, many British workers went on strike. The protests lasted for several days, but Wigan workers were apparently among the first to return to their shifts – and in doing so were said to be ‘eating humble pie’.
They’ve been teased about it ever since. But according to Wiganers, that’s a little unfair.
Some point out that whilst Wigan workers were the first to stop striking, they were also the first to start. Others claim that townsfolk had the pie moniker long before the unrest of 1926.
But perhaps the true origins of the nickname don’t matter. Because labelling Wiganers as ‘pie-eaters’ works on an elemental level, anyway.
Idioms aside, Wigan is a place that is inescapably besotted with pies.
The town’s penchant for pastry is everywhere. I noticed it from the moment I first set foot in Wigan’s sport stadium as a kid – from the pie posters slapped across the walls of the concourse to the pastry offer announcements crackling across the PA system. An advert for ‘POOLE’S PIES!’ (a company which produced pies in Wigan for 171 years) even danced its way across the scoreboard during the game.
Poole’s has sadly folded since then. But there’s still a minimum of 20 listed pie shops operating in the Wigan region today (with dozens of local cafes and food stores serving up pies as part of their wider menus).
Since 1992, Wigan has also been the prideful host of the World Pie-Eating Championships – where contestants aim to wolf down as many of these crumbly concoctions as quickly as possible (historically held at Harry’s Bar on Wallgate).
See, in Wigan, it’s socially acceptable to tackle any type of pie, at any time of day, in almost any way.
Residents even put pies between two slices of bread for a snack; which is known as a ‘Wigan Slappy’ or ‘Wigan Kebab’ (a local delicacy with the latter name features three pies impaled on a stick).
Wow!! Got to say Baldy's Pies are smashing it out of the park right now, reinventing the Wigan kebab 😡😡 I mean PIE BARM. Can't wait to get my hands on them!! #Wigan#piepic.twitter.com/BBUMoSBRvX
It’s true that many Wiganers are happy to embrace their passion for pies with good humour, but some evidence suggests that pies here are no laughing matter.
Wigan journalist David Barnett – who has written multiple pieces on the topic – concludes that pies are in fact a “way of life” for denizens. During his time working at the Wigan Evening Post, a fire ripped through the town’s pie factory, and Barnett was sent to cover the story. Despite the disaster, shutting down pie production was seemingly out of the question. Instead, the company drafted in “emergency pie-makers” to work through the night and get pie deliveries out on time. The article made the front page.
Wigan’s appetite for pies has been rumbling for decades – and remains insatiable to this day.
One of the most recent examples of this fixation can be found in 2019 – when Wigan Athletic needed a new mascot for their football team. Club officials turned to local school children for inspiration – and over half of entries featured a pie in the design.
Wigan’s love affair with pies is well-entrenched and utterly unapologetic.
When one study dared to rank nine regions above Wigan on a list of the UK’s top pie-loving places, World Pie-Eating Championships organiser Tony Callaghan was aghast.
“I’m stunned. This can’t be right,” he told Wigan Today.
“The table is very misleading. Everyone knows that Wigan is the capital of the pie world and home to the World Pie-Eating Championships. It goes down in history as such.
“Even now the pie shops are open and they’ve been trading throughout the pandemic. Wiganers can’t get enough of them.”
Wigan has revelled in many other achievements outside the oven, of course.
It’s home to one of the most successful rugby league teams of all time in Wigan Warriors. It also has a plucky little football club that has repeatedly defied the odds to make sporting headlines (including a famous FA Cup triumph over Man City in 2013). The town’s name features in the title of classic Orwellian work The Road to Wigan Pier. And Wigan is also the birthplace of legendary singer-songwriter George Formby.
But every time British Pie Week rolls around, all eyes are always on the Greater Manchester town for its inextricable link with the golden brown grub.
Wiganers, meanwhile, will be scoffing down pie barms as if it were any ordinary time of year.
That’s what they do there. It’s a town with pie-sonality…
Feature
Drake at Co-op Live, Manchester: Forget ‘One Dance’ – we had many
Thomas Melia
Canadian hitmaker Drake graced Co-op Live in Manchester for the final night of the ‘Some Special Shows 4 UK’ tour with PartyNextDoor.
First song in and multi-hyphenate Drake is already feeling sentimental with ‘Gimme a Hug’ as he admits, “I appreciate the fans rockin’ with me / This is really just a small token.”
‘Marvin’s Room’ played out right after, and although the song prior references it as a favourite of “Durk’s boy”, this same love was shared between 23,500 fans in the crowd at Co-op Live last night.
Shortly after, the Toronto-born rapper began the usual minute-long introduction of his gigantic single ‘Passionfruit’ with fans roaring as soon as he sang the long-awaited ‘Listen’.
Drake played out to 94,000 fans across four sold-out nights at Co-op Live in Manchester (Credit: Audio North)
Less than halfway through this stacked setlist, and it was time for the holy trinity of the night: ‘God’s Plan’, ‘In My Feelings’ and ‘Nice for What’ – nothing short of back-to-back bangers.
Fellow Canadian artist PartyNextDoor joined the self-proclaimed ‘Champagne Papi’ on stage to perform a medley of hits from their collaborative album ‘Some Sexy Songs 4 U’ next.
This R’n’B act made sure to play out his murky trap-fused number ‘No Chill’, and he squeezed in the equally melancholic melody ‘Somebody Loves Me’, too.
The pair may be promoting their joint LP but they took a second to squeeze in a throwback, matching each other’s energy while executing the 2016 collaboration ‘Come and See Me’.
Drake’s career is timeless, and the setlist proves just that as he delivers a rendition of one of his most recent successes, ‘Girls Want Girls’, followed by a track that laid the foundations of his career, ‘Fancy’.
Drake and PartyNextDoor for the ‘Some Special Songs 4 UK’ tour(Credit: The Manc)
Almost 30 songs deep and Drake still had fans reciting bars, verses and everything in between, and this continued as the two-time Brit award winner started 2023 anthem ‘Rich Baby Daddy’.
St. Louis rapper Sexyy Red wasn’t present for her renowned chant, but Manchester stepped up to the occasion, professing: “Hands on your knees, hands on your knees / Shake that *ss for Drake / Now shake that *ss for me”, verbatim.
It was only fair that the global rap titan finished with the setlist with two cellular-themed tracks, starting with the “You used to call me on my cell phone” number ‘Hotline Bling’ before the “Who’s callin’ my phone?” viral smash ‘Nokia’.
The setlist follows a very cyclical structure, as although Drake is known for his comical and cheeky persona on stage and online, deep down, the chart topper is very attentive.
Ending on the ever-emotive ‘Yebba’s Heartbreak’ with lines like, “How much can I show my love for you?”, it’s safe to say this international act is feeling pretty grateful after seeing 94,000 fans show up and show out for him across four non-consecutive nights.
Drake may refer to himself as the ‘Champagne Papi’, but it’s the 23,500 fans who were popping bottles and raising a toast to the rap champ; the support for this musical act is ‘Nonstop’.
Co-op Live really is booking all the big names now.
Kendal Calling toasts 20 years of unforgettable memories with Audio North’s best visit yet
Danny Jones
Kendal Calling 2025 was always going to be special: it was yet another sellout edition of a live music and cultural celebration that impresses every year, shifting its ticket capacity in record time.
Even after two decades of success, genuinely getting ‘bigger and better’ each time, the local event that started off as a cult favourite for roughly 900 people somehow remains one of the most underappreciated festivals not just in the North but in the country.
To be honest, there were so many factors that went into making this our best visit to Kendal Calling to date, but we thought we’d rattle off some of them in our review of 2025’s 20th anniversary year, in what was a truly momentous milestone weekend.
Here are just a few.
Kendal Calling 2025 review
The sun shines down on Lowther Deer Park
For starters, 2025 was comfortably the best weather we’ve ever had at Kendal Calling, as the rays beamed down on the valley pretty much all weekend long.
In fact, the only bit of rain we had came overnight/in the early morning during the final 24 hours, and while there was a bit of showering later that night, we got to enjoy the bulk of the daytime making the most of dry ground – by which we mean jumping up and down every chance we got.
As much as there’s something very romantic about the inevitable wet and muddiness of a UK music festival, this particular tree-encased corner of Penrith is just so pretty set against pure sunlight and clear blue skies. Just gorgeous.
The next big plus may come down to bias, but it gave us a buzz nevertheless. Cue Friday night’s headliners:
It’ll surprise none of you to hear that the Greater Manchester music scene was flying its big festival flag high, wide and handsome at Kendal’s 20th anniversary.
Tell me something I don’t know, right?
From youngsters The Guest List, and fellow indie up-and-comers like M60, to now established main stage stars like The Lottery Winners and, oh, you know, a little-known band called The Courteeners, we had plenty of top-tier representation this time around.
This is not to say that we haven’t in the past, by the way. Everyone knows how prolific and influential our city is when it comes to the arts, in general; nevertheless, it felt like this year, extra eyes were on us.
We’d be fools not to surmise that some of this may have been down to Oasis fever still firmly gripping the nation by the neck with both hands (a sea of their adidas merch was certainly a tip-off), but seeing acts we’ve featured in our artists of the month to look out for felt affirming.
Another thing we can never get over is just how much fun we have after the headliners walk off around 11pm…
Beyond the nine stages located around the sprawling festival site, there are so many little nooks and crannies we are still finding three years in, such as a cosy tea tent with cushion seating and low lamplight, the new ‘Green Room’, which serves as a little taste of VIP, and tonnes more.
The best part about all these bits is that they usually get better the longer the night goes on, and as we found from our two nights dancing until 3am to the silent disco over at the Woodlands stage amidst a trail of fairy lights and flashing headphones, Kendal has endless stamina.
Even on the walk back from the technicolour forest full of ravers, those warming their hands by open fires, or simply lying back and gazing up at the stars in the night sky, you’ll see the big Ferris wheel still spinning, food traders slinging out late-night scran, and people still dancing.
As for some of the names that really impressed us this year, Keo, Sports Team and The Big Moon were up there for some of our favourite sets of the weekend, but we have to say that Sheffield’s very own Reverend and the Makers were truly brilliant.
We’ve had the pleasure of seeing Jon McClure and co. live on a number of occasions over the course of our lifetimes, and while they’ve never quite been as massive as we feel they should be, Kendal Calling 2025 proved they deserve not just main stage but headline slots.
Barring arguably Fatboy Slim on Saturday night, they got the biggest energy and movement of the crowd we’d seen since we got there – and it came as no surprise, either, as the case was very much the same last time.
They acknowledged themselves that they’re having a bit of a ‘Rev-naissance’ and we couldn’t think of a more deserving group of musicians.
Honestly, at this point, we’d say we were getting tired of trying to convince people to give Kendal Calling a go if they haven’t before, but we’re not sure we’ll ever be able to put into words a review that’s fitting enough of how much we adore this festival.
Happy birthday to one of the best. Thanks again for having us back, and here’s to 20 unbelievable years.
As ever, we cannot wait until we’re back on the fields again soon.