Pieminister is a proper job Bristol institution. From humble beginnings in Stokes Croft, where it still retains a restaurant and head office, its tentacles have spread. There is now a second Pieminister in the Glass Arcade at St Nic’s Market; their mobile stalls are a regular site at markets in Bristol, London, Gloucester and Stroud, and events across Bristol; they have permanent shops in Oxford, Stoke on Trent and London’s South Bank; and their amazing pies are served in pubs, bars, delis and restaurants nationwide as well as gracing the shelves at Waitrose supermarkets.
I haven’t even mentioned their big stall every year near the Jazz World Stage at Glastonbury yet, where you can sometimes queue for days. But it’s always worth it, especially if you combine a Pieminister Mothership (pie, mash, gravy, peas and shallots) with a festival strength pear cider from the Brothers bar usually only a few stalls down.
Apart from at Glastonbury, where I have been known to have a Pieminister Mothership and cider for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the place where I do most of my Pieminister eating is at their small restaurant in St Nic’s Market. At busy times, it can get very cosy if you can find a spot on one of the tables, eating your pie with cardboard knives and forks if they’ve run out of the metal variety, but that’s all part of the fun.
Pieminister have done a fantastic job of marketing their pies as lifestyle choices. Theirs is a fun and cool brand, and it helps that their pies – made at a former airplane food factory in Southmead – are so delicious. My own favourite is the matador: free range British beef steak, chorizo, olives, tomatoes, sherry and butter beans all within Pieminister’s lovely pastry.
The other pies in their range are the PM, minty lamb, Thai cook, chicken of Aragon, wildshroom & asparagus, heidi, Mr Porky, moo, and moo & blue. There are also seasonal specials such as the charade pie at Christmas time. Charade, Christmas game, geddit?
As they are a Bristol institution, you are not officially a resident of Bristol unless you have sampled and subsequently raved about Pieminister. You can even become a V.I.Pie.
Pieminister, St Nicholas Market, Corn Street. 0117 302 0070.
