A PIE addict who had to quit being a chef after developing an allergy to flour has landed a dream job - on the meat and potato production line!

And Mike Watts now earns a crust by sitting on the tasting panel at Holland's Pies, Baxenden, once a week as well as getting his hands on his beloved pastry.

Mike, 55, trained as a chef but was advised by doctors to choose another profession after developing an allergy to flour in 1987.

Since then he has worked as a store manager for Kwik Save, and insuring golf clubs and taxis.

But Mike, who baked his first pastry when he was five, never forgot his first love - pies - and decided to go back into the food industry after doctors discovered his allergy had disappeared.

"I wanted to get back into food so I did a second degree in food science technology to add to my economics degree," he said.

"I never thought I would get near flour again so I thought I could do something food related from an office if not first hand."

That was followed by a PhD in fluid engineering - studying how bacteria grow in liquids - but still a pieman at heart, Mike was delighted to be told, after more tests in 1996, that he no longer had the allergy.

He has since worked for pie-makers Ginsters, in Cornwall, and Kerry Foods, in Dorset, and has made pies for several supermarket chains including Tesco and Somerfield.

The father-of-one has worked predominantly in the south, with spells in Switzerland, the Channel Islands and the Royal Naval College, in Dartmouth.

Now the modern-day Mr Pastry, originally from Bromsgrove, has moved up north to join Holland's Pies as a process technologist.

"I have worked for most of the big pie-makers and it's good to be back.

"I think I must have some sort of talent for pies," he said.

"I understand what pastry should look like, its visual appeal, its texture and its taste."