Pieminister opens flagship restaurant site with expanded offer

The site, in the city’s Duncan Street near Leeds Trinity Shopping Centre, is the company’s tenth site and its biggest yet and features an upstairs bar and a more extensive menu.

It is the Bristol-based company’s most northern site yet and is part of an ambitious expansion plan to open more restaurants across the UK in the next five years. Future priority targets include Liverpool, a second outlet in Manchester, Nottingham, Brixton and Clapham, among other cities.

The company currently has restaurants in Cardiff, two in Bristol,  Manchester, Leather Lane and Gabriel’s Wharf in London, Oxford, Stoke-on-Trent and one site overseas in Amsterdam.

The Leeds site comprises a total of 2,825 sq ft over two floors, with a ground floor food preparation and sales area and upstairs the bar offering craft beers and ciders and a cocktail menu of classics, sours and specials. These are being offered at £5 each before 7pm and after 10pm. 

Drinks include a vodka marmalade ‘Paddington Bear’ and ‘Cider Sour’. Bar snacks on offer include pans of giant crisps with Pieminister’s secret recipe Number 11 condiment and organic British pickled hot dogs served with a mustard dressing.  

More extensive menu​

A bigger menu has also been introduced at the site. Alongside the company’s famous pies such as the Matador, Heidi, Moo and Chicken of Aragon and sides of mash, gravy and minted peas, a new range of sides has been introduced including Bristol baked beans, garden chili peas, skin on chips, roast root veg and slaws.

Customers can also “pimp-up their pie”.  At £1.50 each, the pie chef will skewer a helping of chorizo, courgette fritters, cider-battered onion rings or halloumi cheese on the top of customer’s pies.

The food offer also features open top pies, the Captain Nemo (a mash-topped fish pie with prawns and capers) a slow-cooked hot pot topped with crisp sliced potato and seasonal salads, all made to order. 

Pie pubs​

Pieminister now has nine ‘Pie Pubs’, which have a brand licence to sell its pies. These have a Pieminister open kitchen, marketing support and can sell the company’s whole range of pies. Sites include the British Oak in Blackheath, London; the Raven in Bath and Pi pubs in Liverpool.

The company has also launched a range of pie-scented candles, developed to replicate the smell of its best-loved pies and includes a steak, craft ale & thyme scented candle and a beef, chorizo & sherry scented candle.