The World Pie Eating Championship is an annual contest usually held at Harry’s Bar on Wallgate in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The competition has been held since 1992.
History
The competition was first held in 1992.
In 2006 the competition was changed to meet government healthy eating guidelines, from the number of pies consumed in a given time, to the fastest time to consume a single pie.[1] A vegetarian version was also added[2] with the organiser citing “relentless pressure” from The Vegetarian Society,[3] but this practice was discontinued from 2007.[4]
In the 2006 contest, the meat and potato pies were all 12 cm (5 in) in diameter with a depth of 3.5 cm (1.5 in). In the separate vegetarian contest, the pies were 10 cm (4 in) by 3 cm (1.2 in).[5] In December 2007, in the competition, entries included a competitor’s dog, Charlie, who had eaten twenty pies and damaged a further ten the night before the competition, nearly jeopardising the event.[3]
Winners
| Year | Winner | Pies | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Dave Smyth | Four pies | 3 minutes |
| 1995 | Dave Williams | ? | ? |
| 1998 | Scott Ormrod | Eleven pies | 30 minutes |
| 2005 | Anthony “The Anaconda” Danson | Seven pies | 3 minutes[6] |
| 2006 | Matt Dunning[7] | ? | ? |
| 2007 | Adrian Frost | One pie | 35.86 seconds[8] |
| 2008 | Fred Wyatt[9] | One meat and potato pie | 43 seconds[10] |
| 2009 | Barry Rigby | One pie | 45 seconds[11] |
| 2010 | Neil Collier | One pie | 23.91 seconds[4] |
| 2012 | Martin Clare | One pie | 22.53 secs[12] |
| 2013 | Ian Coulton | One pie | 66.61 seconds |
| 2014 | Barry Rigby | Half an oversized pie | 42.6 seconds[13] |
| 2015 | Martin Appleton Clare | ? | ? |
| 2016 | Martin Appleton-Clare | One meat and potato pie | 45.5 seconds[14] |
| 2017 | Martin Appleton Clare | ? | ? |
| 2018 | Martin Appleton Clare | One chicken and carrot pie | 19.6 seconds |
| 2019 | Ian Gerrard | One pie | 34.5 seconds[15] |
| 2022 | Barry Rigby | One pie | 35.4 seconds[16] |
| 2023 | Ian Coulton | One meat and potato pie | 37.4 seconds[17] |
| 2024 | Michael Chant | One pie | 17 seconds[18] |
| 2025 | Tom O’Neil | One pie | 62 seconds[19] |
Channel 5 filmed the 2024 event for their TV show 22 Kids and Counting, as the show’s star Noel Radford supplied the pies for the competition. The championship’s organiser and “piemaster”, Tony Callaghan, dropped and partly broke the trophy. Hits Radio interviewed Callaghan afterwards. Several newspapers were also present.[20][21]
Controversy
In 2005 pies were imported from nearby Farnworth in Bolton, and local Wigan pies were sidelined as it was believed they were substandard, leading to a four-man strong protest.[22] In December 2009, a similar situation arose, with pies being sourced from Adlington in Lancashire.[11]
In December 2014, pies of the wrong size were delivered to the event, while the intended pies were sent to a nearby divorce party. The contestants competed with halved pies, but the results were nullified.[13] The head of the World Pie Eating Championship went to court on the television show Judge Rinder, presenting a case against the pie maker of the wrongly sized pies, but was awarded nothing.[23]
Background
Wiganers are proud to be called pie eaters, but the nickname is not thought to be because of their appetite for the delicacy. The name is said to date from the 1996 general strike, when Wigan miners were starved back to work, before their counterparts in surrounding towns and were forced to eat “humble pie“.[5]
See also
References
- ^ “Health drive hitting pie eaters”. BBC News. 23 November 2006.
- ^ “Pie-eating championship goes slimline”. guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media. 23 November 2006.
- ^ a b “Dog jeopardises pie championships”. BBC News. 13 December 2007.
- ^ a b Wainwright, Martin (15 December 2010). “World pie-eating competition sets new record”. The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- ^ a b Rooth, Ben (22 November 2006). “Only one pie each at world title scoff”. Manchester Evening News. M.E.N. Media. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
- ^ Neil Tweedie (16 December 2005). “Pie championship is a piece of cake for The Anaconda”. The Telegraph. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
- ^ Bunyan, Nigel (16 December 2016). “Falling shortcrust: Wigan space mission proves to be pie in the sky”. The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2026.
- ^ “The pie’s the limit for Adrian”. wigantoday.net. 14 December 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2009.[dead link]
- ^ “World Pie Eating contest at Wigan pub”. Morning Advertiser. 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
- ^ “AFP: Local cleans up in World Pie Eating Championships”. Google News. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ a b Wainwright, Martin (15 December 2009). “World pie-eating contest leaves competitors choking”. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
- ^ “Barry regains pie crown”. Wigan Today. 18 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ a b “World Pie Eating Championships: Humble pie for Wigan chef after pie mix-up”. BBC News. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ Heward, Emily (20 December 2016). “Watch: World pie-eating champion’s ‘Usain Bolt’ moment at Wigan competition”. Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
- ^ “Chaotic scenes on the eve of Wigan’s World Pie-Eating Championships”. Wigan Today. 23 January 2023.
- ^ Campbell, Jenna (25 January 2023). “Wigan man crowned world pie eating champion after devouring snack in record time”. Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ “Wigan man becomes lord of the pies at this year’s World Championships”. Wigan Today. 14 December 2023.
- ^ “Man breaks world record by eating meat and potato pie in 17 seconds”. Metro.
- ^ Docker, Georgie; Stead, Richard (19 December 2025). “Wigan pie-eating champion polishes off pie in 64 seconds”. BBC News. Retrieved 9 May 2026.
- ^ “Wigan World Pie-Eating Championships: veterans’ shock disqualification as champ is declared”. Wigan Today Newspaper.
- ^ “Whitefield builder wins World Pie Eating Championships”. Bury Times Newspaper.
- ^ Lewis, Paul (16 December 2005). “I ate all the pies”. The Washington Post. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ Armstrong, Jeremy (20 March 2016). “Judge Rinder’s latest case sees him rule on a disputed pie-eating competition”. Daily Mirror. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
