Wrexham football club is aiming to go to the top of the league for its pies – with the help of an award winning bakery.
Long-term supporters The Village Bakery are going to create an official club pie to be sold at the Racecourse ground on match days.
They’re determined to knock Kidderminster Harriers off their perch as the UK’s acknowledged league leaders in the pie stakes.
The historic club established in 1864 – the oldest in Wales and the third oldest in the world – also wants to take on the famous Killie Pie at Kilmarnock FC that’s been named as the best pie in Scottish football.
Wrexham fans will be given the final say with a special tasting session to make the final pick from a short-list of two flavours encased in mouth-watering short-crust pastry.
The duo of pies to choose from will include a hot chilli beef pie in honour of club mascot Wrex the Dragon and a steak and cheese pie.
Fans will be given the opportunity to taste them ahead of the home match against Braintree Town which kicks off at 3pm on Saturday.
In the meantime, the Village Bakery’s existing pies have already scored a big hit at the community-based club.
On the first day of the season, they sold out in minutes and they’ve now had to triple the order.
Wrexham AFC’s commercial manager, Geoff Scott, said: “The Village Bakery is an iconic brand and the fact they’re going to be producing an official club pie is absolutely brilliant.
“They’ve been supplying us already with their existing pies already and they are going down a storm.
“For the first match of the season we had a big crowd and we sold out very early on so I know we tripled the order and that just about kept up so Wrexham fans understand that they’re going to buy quality.
“All the money we make will go into to the football club and not anybody else so that encourages people to buy food at the ground.
“Throughout football there are certain clubs who are known for their catering and their products and over the years we haven’t been in that league.
“In Scotland there’s the Killie Pie and Kidderminster are the culinary kings with their cottage pie but we are planning to knock them off their perch with our Premier League pies from the Village Bakery.
“We are a community-based club so it is important that we involve the fans. They helped choose the new kit and they will have a say in choosing the official club pie.”
Village Bakery managing director Robin Jones is savouring the challenge.
He said: “As a Wrexham-based family firm and long-term supporters of the club, we are thrilled we’ll be making the club’s new official pie.
“We’ve had a bit of a trial run with our current pies and they were very well received – Twitter went mad and there was a fantastic response on our Facebook page.
“The two pies from which the fans will make the final choice will be made with Welsh beef and local ingredients.
“We’re going to have a very spicy, a chilli flavoured pie for Wrex the dragon – obviously something quite fiery to warm people up on a cold winter’s day and a steak and cheese pie.
“At the end of the day it’s up to Wrexham Football Club and the fans to decide which one they want because we want them to be over the moon with their new pie.
“Our mission is to beat the pies at Kidderminster – we want Wrexham to be top of the league for pies and we believe we’ve got the recipe for success.”
