AN East Lancashire butcher’s pork pies have been voted the best in the county.

DT Law Butchers, Haslingden, were presented with the supreme champion award by the Lancashire Pork Pie Appreciation Society (LPPAS) at their charity award night on Saturday.

And Owner Darren Law said the award was a ‘complete surprise’.

He said: “I didn’t put myself forward for it so it was a complete surprise.

“The society had randomly gone into 33 shops all over Lancashire and bought pork pies which were then given to a jury to be tested.

“I didn’t know anything about it until three weeks ago when I got an email saying we had made it into the top five and had been invited to the award night.

“When I read the email I thought it was a joke because I hadn’t entered any pie competitions, but then I read the email and realised it was real.”

Mr Law said he was instructed to bring a sample of his pies to the event at the Black Bull, Edgworth, where they would be judged.

Mr Law said: “I thought, ‘I’ve got a one in five chance of winning, so I might as well go’

“We didn’t expect anything, so it was a complete surprise when we won.

“Apparently we were the unanimous winner.”

Mr Law opened DT Law Butchers 24 years ago and then expanded into pies 13 years later.

He said: “It was just me to begin with, then I bought the building next door and started selling pies.

“I now have 11 staff including my two bakers, Adam and Wayne, who went from selling 100 pies in that first work to producing nearly 3,000 a week now.

“I can’t tell you the secret to our pies but I will tell you we make sure we only use quality meat and pastry and all our ingredients are locally sourced.”

The LPPAS were established in order to determine the best pork pies that Lancashire has to offer and work tirelessly to identify, assess and celebrate the best pies in the county.