Yorkshire Pies Vanish in Bold Heist, Leaving Chef Only With Crumbs
Yorkshire-born chef Tommy Banks knows a good pie. As the owner of two Michelin-starred restaurants and a pub in northern England, he’s built a reputation for culinary excellence. But even the best chef couldn’t have predicted the latest twist in his story: a pie heist that turned the festive season sour.
It started with a missing van. One morning, a staff member discovered the vehicle, along with its precious cargo of 2,500 handmade pies destined for a Christmas market in York, had vanished into thin air. The stolen pies – a savory selection of steak and ale, turkey, and butternut squash – were valued at a hefty $32,000.
Banks was devastated. But instead of despair, he decided on an act of faith. Taking to Instagram, he appealed to the thieves, pleading with them to "do the right thing."
“I’m asking anyone with any information about the whereabouts of the van and the pies to please come forward,” Banks said in the video appeal. “It’s Christmas time, and see if you can drop them off at a community center or somewhere where they could be enjoyed.”
He embraced the quirky side of the situation, suggesting the thieves could even take a pie for themselves.
Unfortunately, this culinary caper didn’t have a heartwarming resolution. Days later, police found the van abandoned and badly damaged in Middlesbrough, a town roughly 30 miles from where it was stolen.
The news arrived as a blow to Banks.
“It’s just so much waste,” Banks lamented in a follow-up Instagram video. “It’s just rubbish. Sorry, it’s not a happier ending to this story.”
Sadly, the damage to the pies rendered them inedible, leading to a bittersweet conclusion for Banks and a huge loss of food.
This pie heist was just one in a string of audacious food thefts to target artisanal delicacies in the UK. In October, a con artist posing as a distributor for a French retailer made off with nearly 1,000 wheels of artisanal cheddar – a whopping 48,488 pounds – from Neal’s Yard Dairy in London.
The cheddar heist, valued at $390,000, sparked a massive investigation by British and international authorities, even prompting a plea from TV chef Jamie Oliver. “Where’s the missing cheese gone?” he asked in a social media post.
Unfortunately, the cheddar remains missing, adding another sad ending to these baffling food thefts.
