First look at the new Sussex pasty.

The Albion pub on Hastings seafront is famed for its home-made pies and even has its own ‘pasty shack’ outside offering pasties with a wide range of fillings.

Now it has the Sussex pasty using Sussex lamb as the meat filling rather than the traditional beef. The pasty is made from Sussex lamb, Harvey’s Sussex bitter, Sussex farmhouse cheddar, turnip, onion, carrot and apple, served with the Albion’s own home-made mint jelly.

Landlord Bob Tipler explained: “We have found evidence that the popular pasty was actually first seen in Sussex rather than Cornwall.

"Browsing through a box of dusty antiquarian books purchased from a house clearance shop in Hastings, Old Town based Professor Cameron deWolf came across a volume with the title ‘Shepherds be Thankful’.

“The book turned out to be the eighteenth century diary of a certain Lady Fuelle who had eloped with a servant and found anonymity living with humble shepherds on the South Downs.

"Part of the book is given over to traditional recipes she has discovered locally, one of these being for a Sussex Pasty. She tells of how the pasty provided “fair vitals” for her husband John as he tended his sheep.”

Bob added: “Hastings is also still in the Guinness book of records for the largest gathering of pirates following two unsuccessful attempts by Penzance in Cornwall to regain the title!”

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