Toby Carvery offers to host ‘Yorkshire pudding-gate’ showdown for Fleetwood primary school

Toby Carvery has offered to host a dance-off between a pupil and her headteacher - with a prize of unlimited Yorkshire puds for the winner.

The saga began when deputy head girl Skye Taylor sent a tongue-in-cheek email to the head of Flakefleet Primary in Fleetwood Dave McPartlin complaining that the "food of the gods" had been served to staff on their Christmas dinners, but not to pupils.

Mr McPartlin (calling himself Chief Elf) responded in a witty exchange and offered to settle the issue with a dance-off in front of the entire school.

Now bosses at the Toby Carvery chain have backed Skye's protest and suggested their nearest restaurant in Blackpool could host a dance-off saying "Deputy Head Girl, we salute you. We hereby offer you your local Toby for any future dance offs, and unlimited yorkies to the winner."

Skye's email, which went viral when shared on social media, called the omission of Yorkshire puddings from the pupils' festive lunch as "extremely cruel and callous."

She said Yorkshires were "the food of the Gods" and questioned why they only made an appearance on the teacher's Christmas dinners, not on pupils.

She wrote: "It is my belief that this action by the school was extremely cruel and callous. Therefore as deputy head girl I am requesting that future Christmas dinners contain Yorkshire puddings for ALL! I look forward to your response".

Mr McPartlin responded by saying he is in "full agreement that they are the Food of Gods and up there with Nutella and milkshakes in the league of unbeatable foodstuffs." He then offered to "put myself on the naughty step and make myself go to bed early,"

The exchange has been shared more than 880 times, with hundreds of compliments for the relationship between staff and pupils.

Mr McPartlin and the children at Flakefleet rose to national fame in 2019 when the school's choir reached the finals of Britain's Got Talent after being given the golden buzzer by judge Dave Walliams.

Next year all the children have been promised Yorkshires on their Christmas lunch, and Mr McPartlin said: “The nice comments have really made us smile.”