A little about us
Harold Nelson acquired the business in 1924, winning over 50 gold medals for his Melton Mowbray Pork Pies. These were made in the cellar below the Red Lion Square shop before moving to our Pie Factory in Alma Place, Stamford in 1959, where we still handcraft our pies today.
On his retirement in 1952, Mr Nelson sold the business to Frank Gilman, later run by Guy Gilman for many years. Following his retirement, Guy passed the distinguished baton to Matthew Kingston and Kris Moore in 2018. Matthew moved on to other exciting ventures in 2019 and Kris Moore became the sole owner of the esteemed business.
Kris has been a butcher for over 20 years, starting out as a ‘Saturday Lad’ at John Ross & Son Butcher in Market Harborough. Kris went on to join the Royal Anglian Regiment and served for 9 years. After leaving the army, Kris returned to his butchery and purchased John Ross & Son, later followed by Nelsons Butchers and Trendalls of Oundle, to form an innovative and exciting group of businesses.
Kris is famed for his displays of mouth-watering cuts of meat, traditional values and relentless search for quality. He continues to deliver the famous Nelsons Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and quality meat, which our loyal customers can depend on, whilst mixing the best of the old and modern world by offering traditional quality online.
Nelsons use meat that is sourced direct from nearby farms or through the local market. The farms are accredited ‘Farm Assured’ guaranteeing the highest standards of animal husbandry.
We want to bring an affordable taste of our small market town butchers to as many dinner tables across the country as we can.
Some of our achievements
Like us, only the best will do for the Queen at Christmas so off our pies went to Sandringham.
Here’s Prince Charles choosing what he’d like for his tea. He enjoyed his Lincolnshire sausages so much he sent us a letter to tell us.
Even on screen royalty have enjoyed our pies, taking to the spotlight in the famous banquet scene in Game of Thrones.
Matthew and Kris were invited to share their expert opinion on the BBC’s ‘Jimmy’s farm’ with Jimmy Doherty and Jamie Oliver.
Since the turn of the century Nelsons have won 20 awards, celebrating our delicious pies and meat.
Nelson’s relationship with the famous Melton Mowbray pork pie is so special that we feature in ‘The History of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie’ book.