Great North Pie Co’s Neil Broomfield has followed various callings in life and is not your average pie maker, with a run-of-the-mill story to tell. His journey is one which has seen him train to be a surveyor and spend eight years in the police patrolling the streets of Manchester, before his heart took him back to where it all began - the kitchen. Cooking is much more than just a job to Neil - it
is his life and one true passion and you can actually taste this in his handcrafted multi-award winning pies, which in only a few years have received great critical acclaim. From humble beginnings Neil started researching and developing pies in his home kitchen, selling them at local farmers markets and to officers from Greater Manchester Police. Although he trained in Michelin starred kitchens alongside top chefs such as Paul Heathcote and Jeff Baker, Neil is mostly self taught. He sets new standards for pies with his unique and ambitious recipes, a combination which saw him win two categories at the British Pie Awards in 2011. That year also saw Neil scoop the prestigious title of North West Fine Food Producer of the Year in a competition judged by the Great British Menu winner Nigel Haworth. What next for the future of the Great North Pie Co? They have no plans to be the biggest. They are artisan and focus purely on the quality. Neil and the team just want to be one of the best pie makers in the country.
