The price of a pasty these days...

[Gob]

Gone are the days of paying £2.50 for a golden-brown shortcrust pocket filled with warmth, flavour and pure goodness.



And a recent Cornwall Live investigation revealed that a large traditional pasty could set you back over £5. Of course, a 'large' varies from bakery to bakery, some giant and others slightly smaller - but still perfectly formed, of course...

Mark Norton, owner and director at Prima Bakeries, said: "I guess you can still very much get a below £2 pasty but it will usually be something mass produced on a conveyor belt with the minimum of staff involvement - the sort of thing you buy in a supermarket.

"For those of us still making a product that is handmade - the biggest increase is in labour costs. The minimum wage for over 21s in 2015 was £6.70 per hour. Now it is £8.21 and will go up again in April next year.

"That is a growth of 23% in just four years plus now pension costs are paid by employers etc. It means that the real cost to an employer with holidays and Employers National Insurance is over £10 per hour. I am not saying this is unjustified (Prima already pays above the minimum wage) but it in part explains the rise in prices.

Gone are the days of paying £2.50 for a golden-brown shortcrust pocket filled with warmth, flavour and pure goodness.

And a recent Cornwall Live investigation revealed that a large traditional pasty could set you back over £5. Of course, a 'large' varies from bakery to bakery, some giant and others slightly smaller - but still perfectly formed, of course...


Charlie strives to buy as much Cornish produce as he can and all of his staff are local, he even believes that 70-years-ago Choaks were the only place in Falmouth making pasties.

He said: "When I first started pasties cost a sixpence and then when we went to decimalisation it went up to 7.5 pence.

"Everything has gone up – rent has gone up, rates and ingredients. You used to be able to buy a brand new car for £450 – everyone blames Brexit on the rising prices.

"What caused it, I don’t know. I get shocked by the prices of things and so does my wife. Customers don't seem shocked by the price - everyone understands that things are more expensive."

Charlie admitted that he uses frozen swede but not because of the price, adding: "Young swedes are lovely but then they get tough and horrible, I tell people this, we still do, we use frozen swede."

Clearly pasties are important for our county, as Malcolm Bell CEO at Visit Cornwall explains: "The pasty is the icon of Cornwall.

"I travel a lot as part of my job and the awareness of the pasty is probably as big as it can get. Pasties are on sale everywhere from Victoria services to pasty shops in London and what is great is that most of them have scenic pictures of Cornwall displayed which also helps advertise it to holidaymakers.

"Even though pasties are available throughout the county, it is like drinking a local beer, people like to travel here to enjoy a pasty – similarly to eating a Yorkshire pudding and roast beef in Yorkshire.

"A pasty is the ultimate fast food, which was invented before fast food and can be enjoyed anywhere from a beer garden to the beach."


Asked about the presence of bakeries and pasty shops on our high streets, he added: "High streets have definitely become places for leisure rather than essential shopping – that happens online now or in out of town retail parks.

"People go into the towns for food, entertainment and leisure, it is not unusual to see someone sat on a bench at Truro Piazza outside Rowe's with a pasty in their hand."

https://www.cornwalllive.com/whats-on/w ... ZCjCMLcinc

[ex-khobar Andy]

Gone are the days of paying £2.50 for a golden-brown shortcrust pocket filled with warmth, flavour and pure goodness.

Gore blimey, Gob: I remember the days when you could get a decent pasty in Cornshire for half a crown. I spent a weekend in Penzance in 1968 before heading to the Isles of Scilly with my then GF.

[Econoline]

"a large traditional pasty could set you back over £5"

I don't recall the exact figure, but I know I spent more than £5 a couple of times when we were in Penzance last year.

Okay, I just looked online and Lavenders sells a large steak pasty for £5.55 (IIRC they also had an "Extra Large" which cost more than that)—which was/is well worth it! I mean, c'mon...a whole, complete, prepared meal for £5.55? How can you go wrong?

Damn. Now I'm getting hungry....

[Bicycle Bill]

The terpsichorean ecdysiasts around here don't need to wear pastys anymore.

-"BB"-

[Gob]

Okay, I just looked online and Lavenders sells a large steak pasty for £5.55

One of the best pasties in the area them.

[ex-khobar Andy]

And now we have Greggxit. Greggs is a big chain bakery in UK famous for their meat pies and sausage rolls; but they have been unable to crack the Cornish pasty market. So they are shutting their only Cornwall shop and going home.

It said so in the Daily Mail so it must be true.

Meghxit and Greggxit in the same week and Brexit is not far behind is sure to happen to some extent in the next decade or so. Place is going to the dogs!

I gather that Meghan is saying that she wasn't banned from Skyping the Queen's meeting at Sandringham: that those who said she was are all lying. I am trademarking the word "Meghxitgate' before the papers start to use it and I shall be rich and famous and won't have to hang around with you lot any more. BWAAHAAHAAHAA! So long suckers!

[Sue U]

I am trademarking the word "Meghxitgate' before the papers start to use it and I shall be rich and famous and won't have to hang around with you lot any more. BWAAHAAHAAHAA! So long suckers!

You are sooooo far off the mark. I am trademarking "Meghxitghazi" which is sure to be the top term in Googlesearch and therefore the biggest moneymaker so you can visit me on my yacht if you can find me (I will be in the South Pacific or maybe the Mediterranean, good luck!).


ETA:

"Meghxitghazi" -- looks practically Welsh.

[RayThom]

I'm copyrighting and trademarking my new term, "Megzkrieg."

It's not only blowing up the English monarchy, but also every news cycle.

'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so few to so many.'

[rubato]

And then what happened grandpa?


yrs,
rubato