The Turks Head is a traditional Victorian pub in St Helens, Merseyside. Built in the 1870s in the Tudor style, it’s popular with the locals and has a reputation for award-winning craft beers.

If the home-cooked food, open fires, and steady supply of beer aren’t enough to attract you, the pub also proudly claims to have the oldest pie in St Helens. Its age is unverified; it was found when the pub was renovated in 2017. Presumably, someone dropped it behind a bench, where it lay undisturbed for decades.

Its remarkably well-preserved condition led the owners to display it proudly once the refurbishment was complete. It now rests in an acrylic box on a wooden plinth with the story of its discovery engraved:

“This pie was discovered during renovations of The Turks Head public house (Feb 2017). It is thought to be the greatest discovery since Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon unearthed Tutankhamun in 1922. We still don’t know what mystical powers have been set free in The Turks Head.”

St Helens isn’t often compared to the Valley of the Kings, so the above claims may be slightly exaggerated. There have yet to be any reports of a curse.