New owner sought for long-standing Whanganui pie shop

Bruce Leslie (left) and Josephine Erni are retiring after almost half a century of making pies in Whanganui. Photo / Erin Smith

A Castlecliff favourite needs someone new to carry on its legacy.

Maggies Pies on the corner of Cross and Hinau Sts is a bakery with deep roots in the Whanganui community.

Owners Bruce Leslie and Josephine Erni have almost 50 years between them in the pie-making business.

They have owned Maggies Pies for close to 10 years and are looking for someone new to buy the family-run business.

“[We’re] just getting tired,” Erni said.

Their decision to sell comes from a mix of ageing and recent battles with health issues.

“I went through a bout of cancer and came out the other side,” she said.

“Bruce’s health is not the greatest either. Just time to slow down.”

The couple have been making pies for decades at various locations across town.

Leslie, known by some as the “pie king”, began his lifelong career in baking 49 years ago.

He left school at age 15 and briefly worked in a sawmill before deciding to t work at a nearby restaurant, then bakery.

Having learned his trade, he opened his own shop, One Better Home Made Pies on Carlton Ave where Hunting and Fishing is now.

Along the way, he met Erni.

She decided to join him in pie-making, leaving her work in pear and kiwifruit orchards.

They have been working alongside each other for more than 20 years.

“We decided, well, we have to do something,” she said.

“And good to be your own boss rather than work for somebody else.”

After 10 successful years, they sold One Better Home Made Pies to Pete and Marie Hamilton in 2001.

The Hamiltons moved the business to Castlecliff after a fire destroyed the Carlton Ave shop, while Leslie and Erni ran their new shop, Carlton Takeaways.

In 2013, Leslie’s son, Chaise Leslie, decided to buy the Castlecliff business, now called Maggies Pies, from the Hamiltons.

Bruce Leslie (left) and Josephine Erni are selling Maggies Pies on Cross St, Castlecliff. Photo / Erin Smith

He ran the shop with the help of his partner, Emily Jane Hurley, for three years.

In 2016, Hurley and the couple’s unborn son, Jake, died in a car crash that severely injured Chaise. The 10-year anniversary of the crash is on Friday, February 13.

Leslie and Erni bought Maggies Pies from Chaise to help alleviate the financial burden and have run the shop since.

Bruce has a tattoo of his late daughter-in-law and unborn grandchild on his arm.

“I’m going to miss the people,” Erni said as she reflected on their time in their businesses.

“But I’m not going to miss the unfriendly hours that we work.”

The couple arrive at 4am every day before the shop opens, and close at 3pm.

Maggies Pies has a loyal customer base and is well-known in the Whanganui community.

Erni said she hoped whoever bought the business received the same support from the community that they had felt.

“There’s room for improvement here.”

She said a new owner could expand the business with simple additions such as a coffee machine or ice creams.

“It’d be good for someone that has the vision to do more.

“It’s time for us to have our time now.”

Maggies Pies is listed for $100,000 plus GST. Erni said people with serious inquiries about the business can contact her on (027) 237 5083.

Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.