A British pie chase has ended in tears after police tracked down a stolen van – but its savoury cargo was too damaged to eat.

The van, packed with 2500 steak and ale, turkey and butternut squash pies intended for a Christmas market in the city of York, was nabbed earlier this week.

Chef Tommy Banks, who owns two Michelin-starred restaurants and a pub in the northern English county of Yorkshire, said an employee discovered the van and its contents – worth an estimated £25,000 ($A49,000) and weighing nearly a tonne were missing.

Banks said the van was insured but he implored the vehicle thieves not to let the food go to waste.

In an Instagram video, he suggested they “do the right thing” and drop the pies at a community centre or other venue.

“I know you’re a criminal, but maybe just do something nice because it’s Christmas and maybe we can feed a few thousand people with these pies that you’ve stolen. Do the right thing,” he said.

Banks later said police had found the van in Middlesborough, just 50 kilometres from where it had been stolen. It was badly damaged and wearing stolen number plates.

He said the pies were still inside but were damaged and would have to be thrown out.

“It’s just so much waste. It’s just rubbish,” Banks said in a video on Instagram.

“Sorry, it’s not a happier ending to this story.”

The bakery heist is the latest theft of artisanal edibles to rock the British food trade.

In October, nearly 1000 wheels of cloth-wrapped artisanal cheddar weighing 22 tonnes and valued at £300,000 ($A590,000) were swiped from London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy by a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer.

Despite a hunt by British and international police – and an appeal by TV chef Jamie Oliver – the cheese has not been found.

A 63-year-old man was arrested and questioned by police, but has not been charged.

-with AAP