Yorkies personified the English hold on Pattaya in the early years of this century. Run by no-nonsense and martial arts black-belted Yorkshireman Norman Denning and his wife Eileen, the premises were initially housed on Jomtien Beach Road and latterly on Soi Chaiyapruek. Yorkies’ pies were hungrily devoured everywhere from the bars of the Pattaya quiz leagues to the British embassy restaurant in Bangkok.
Yorkies was not the first pie and sausage maker in Pattaya by any means. Pat’s Pies on Third Road was already offering various savories and even had a row with Greg’s Kitchen about who had the right to nominate their cold cabinet as a “delicatessen.” Following soon in 2001 was the War of the Pies in which two Birmingham businessmen fought tooth and nail with the occasional black eye to earn the right to serve the thousands of Brits tourists then flocking to Sin City.
Norman Denning, a huge man in every sense of the word, sadly died from a heart attack in 2011. His Pattaya cremation was likely the only one in world history in which six frozen meat pies were placed in the coffin. Somehow it was fitting. His wife Eileen soldiered on with the help of loyal staff before retreating to the UK a few years ago. Equally as effervescent as her husband, Eileen was a generous worker for charity as well as a firm supporter of the Pattaya Players and one of the volunteer initiatives of the local police.
Inevitably, Yorkies lost ground as Pattaya’s future unfolded. The number of Brits in the resort declined substantially, especially in the last ten years, even as competition intensified. Yorkies maintained a strong presence in several Pattaya outlets, especially Big ‘C’ Extra and Villa Market, but the new generation of popular expat food stores – there are now six in the greater Pattaya area led by Siamburi and Siam Expat Foods – chose other pie and frozen meals sources. Successful Pattaya rivals, such as the Aussie-run Tinnies in Jomtien, also joined the fray and have proved especially adept at supplying hundreds of pies weekly all over Thailand by air freight.
And so Yorkies is up for sale after trading for 22 years. Five double rented units in Jomtien and a host of extras are advertised at 11 million baht and open to negotiation. Yes, it’s the end of an era as the virus-hit city wonders what its future might be.
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