A humble pie with a unique filling and a taste loved by football fans across the West Midlands

With the Black Country being an area with a high concentration of Indian restaurants, it would be tempting to suggest that the pie was created here.

However, its origins actually lie outside the Black Country in Warwickshire, where Shire Foods in Leamington Spa can lay claim to be the creators of the much-loved pie.

It was in 1997 when the company, which was based in Warwick at the time, were looking for a new type of pie, with the then-commercial director Ron Baldwin coming up with the idea.

Current commercial manager Keven Newey described what had happened and what the next stage had been.

He said: “Our commercial director at the time was a Brummie and it was his brainchild to combine curry with pastry, so they looked at all the different curry options.

“We had been supplying football clubs at the time, but only with the standard steak and kidney and chicken and mushroom pies, so we went with the Balti pie, as well as with the chicken tikka pasties.

“The Balti was the one we trialled with a few football clubs, so we tried it with Manchester City, Aston Villa and Walsall over 1997 and 1998 and, after that, we began branching out into other clubs.”

Mr Newey said the reaction from clubs had been fantastic and had grown to around 60 football clubs across England stocking their pies at one time, as well as being loved by celebrities such as music mogul Pete Waterman.

He said that the pies were filled with proper chicken Balti, using herbs and spices to create the paste, then adding proper chicken and onions to produce a rich and tasty curry, which also went through a rigorous testing process.

He said; “We’ve got a great development team and while some of the wacky and wild ideas might not have worked, the chicken Balti curry was on the up, particularly in the Midlands, and we were getting calls from clubs saying that fans were demanding our pies.

“It was a great position to be in and we were working to fulfil all orders and supply demand.

“A number of our competitors tried to copy it, but they just couldn’t replicate it, which just showed us how authentic and how brilliantly we made it.”

Mr Newey said the Balti pie had been the best one Shire Food had ever created and even though the company stopped supplying pies to football clubs a decade ago, people were still asking for it.

He said: “Clubs are still coming to us and saying that their fans love our pies and fans are still emailing us to ask where they can get the Balti pies.

“We stopped baking pies about a decade ago and we only produce frozen, unbaked products and so people buy them from bakeries or from frozen.

“The Balti pie has endured because it is so different and innovative as it combines the love of a good curry with a pie and as Brits love their pastries and love their curries, it’s the perfect combination.”

That love of a Balti pie is one still felt by football clubs in the region, such as at Wolves, where head of operations Anthony Addison said they were perfect on a cold day.

He said: “Balti pies are a fantastic food, but also for watching the game as they are easy to hold, delicious, full of sauce and very warming for those freezing cold days in the stands.”

At Walsall, where the Balti pie was first trialled and loved, head of conference and events Guy Harrison said the pies were still as popular now as they were in 1997.

He said: “I have been told that the Walsall FC was the first Football Club to sell Balti pies from a company called Shires Pies based in Leamington Spa who made the pies just for us over 25 years ago.

“Shires Pies decided to move away from football many years ago and along came Pukka Pies, who we now purchase the Balti Pie from and remains our best selling product on every match day.

“It’s because everyone likes a curry and a pie, they both complement each other.”