Liverpool’s traditional Pancake Day race, pitting the city’s top chefs against each other to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, returns to the city.

Held in the gardens of Liverpool Parish Church, the annual race is designed to see how the city’s top chefs stack up, as they have to complete laps of the garden whilst flipping a pancake. The pancake must be thick enough to withstand the outdoors, light enough to be flipped cleanly while running, and must not fall from the pan.

Five chefs from Hotel Indigo, Ma Boyle’s, Tempest on Tithebarn, Pullman, and Lunya Lita took part. Along with bragging rights, the winner for the second year in a row, Alex Hopkins, receives an engraved pancake pan, presented by the Rector of Liverpool, the Revd Canon Dr Crispin Pailing:

“There is a long and proud tradition behind our Pancake Day Race which takes place each year on Shrove Tuesday. Yes, we have to keep an eye on any abuse of the rules and yes the competition is real. The winning chef will have their engraved pan installed in their kitchen for a full year.”

The win came after a strong start by the Reigning Champion of Liverpool Pancake Day Race 2022, Alex from Lunya Lita, whose natural height once again gave him an advantage from the start:

“It’s a huge win and a proud achievement”, he said. “I’ve been training by running from the stockroom to the kitchen”.

The origin of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday lies in the tradition of using up remaining fat and dairy products before ‘fasting’ began in Lent. Many Christians still keep the tradition of giving something up as a way of preparing themselves for Easter. Held originally in the 1980s, the Pancake Day race was revived in Liverpool in the mid 200os.

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