CELEBRITIES have sampled a Bolton delicacy — Carrs pasties.

When superstar superfan Chris Evans held a Children In Need charity event in his Surrey pub there was only one firm he wanted to cater for his celebrity guests.

And Carrs director, Joe Carr and his girlfriend Joanna Sewell, were only too happy to deliver the Bolton favourite.

They were enjoyed by celebrities including Gary Barlow, the rock band Stereophonics and singer James Blunt.

Joe said: “It started two years ago when we supplied the pasties for a Help for Heroes charity golf event at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire.

“We set up at the ninth hole to distribute the pasties and Chris Evans was taking part in the event.

“He chatted to me and my father (managing director John Carr) for five minutes and was really nice.

“The next thing we knew, he was on air saying the golf club was where he met his wife and eating our pasties was an experience which compared favourably to that.

“Then he wrote a piece in a national Sunday newspaper magazine saying ‘If Carrs Pasties ever want to go global, I’m in. This may be my Victor Kian moment’.”

The DJ’s on-air banter even prompted Joe to grasp the nettle and learn how to build a website for Carrs, based in Manchester Road.

The 28-year-old said: “He said he couldn’t believe we didn’t have a website, and we agreed with him, so I set about learning how to do it. It took me a couple of days, but we’re quite pleased with the results.”

Joe said it was like going into a different world when he and Joanna dropped the pasties off at the Mulberry Inn, where Evans was hosting the Children In Need event.

Evans is not the only celebrity fan of Carrs Pasties. The firm supplied more than 200 pasties for a Vernon Kay Radio One show at St Gregory’s Social Club, where Phoenix Nights was filmed. The event was hosted by Bolton funnyman Peter Kay and attended by Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness.

Carrs Pasties was founded by Joe’s grandfather Joseph Edward Carr, in Halliwell Road, Bolton — where there is still a Carrs shop — in 1938.

Joe, who was named after his grandfather and great-grandfather, said: “There were seven children and they started making them to feed the family.

“We now have three shops, the third one is in Ashburner Street. We are Bolton through and through and are proud of being part of the fabric of the town.

"I think part of the reason we’re getting national recognition is that there’s something special about being from Bolton. We have family values and it is reflected in our 53 staff, most of whom have been working with us for 15 years and the rest five years or more.”

Carrs Pasties is one of the sponsors of this year’s Bolton and Bury Business Awards. The firm is sponsoring We’re Backing Bolton and Bury award.