I’m not being funny but… we have to save London’s pie and mash. I remember when I was a kid on the estate in Battersea, we would argue over whose pie and mash shop was the best. We used to say, “Oh, I love pie and mash, what shop do you go to?”, and then tell them, “Oh, I don’t like that shop”, just to fight.
It’s a territorial thing: everybody from a certain generation loves their favourite pie and mash shop. I loved Maggie Brown’s — it was bloody delicious but it’s shut down now. There were disgustingly untrue rumours that it was closed due to selling horse meat, though I still remember thinking: “Oh my God, I’ve been eating horse shit all these years without realising.” They no longer exist — today there’s only 41 shops left. There used to be hundreds.
Pie and mash is a London institution that needs to be saved. It’s important to London, as famous as Tower Bridge. And it’s so much more than just pie and mash. You have chilli vinegar, you have jellied eels — they’re East End delicacies that you can’t find anywhere else.
My grandmother used to love jellied eels. She used to sit and eat them all the time with her false teeth. I remember watching them fall out: watching someone eat jellied eels with no teeth is not the one. Thankfully the taste for jellied eels hasn’t been passed down the generations of my family. But whether you like them or not, they’re an acquired taste that should live on regardless. I’ve still got the taste for pie and mash, of course. The liquor, the secret recipes. I’ve been having mine delivered by Deliveroo recently, which has really reconnected me with it.
We used to say ‘I love pie and mash, what shop do you go to?’ then tell them ‘I don’t like that one,’ just to fight
There was a really good one in Exmouth Market that I used to go to, but that shut down. There was one in East Street Market I liked, but that also shut down. Names like Cooke, Robin’s and Kelly all used to equal pie and mash, but Manze is the only one people seem to know and recognise anymore.
Slowly but surely, many have disappeared. Nowadays, with all the closures and the cost of modern living, people would rather go to Pret a Manger than they would go to have pie and mash. It’s very bizarre. Especially since it’s cheap and cheerful. It’s a real f***ing shame because it’s such a special old tradition that sadly lost its popularity in the Eighties — it’s up to us to keep it alive.
It’s nostalgic. It’s quintessentially London. Nothing beats going into an old-school shop that had sawdust on the floor. White tiled walls and minimal seating — it was what a lot of restaurants aspire to be these days. Instead pie and mash shops had this Victorian art deco vibe about them. You went in, you got a choice of pie and mash. There was no drama to it and that was the beauty of it. It’s always the same: a British beef mince pie. Now they even do vegan versions to bring it up to date. I love the history associated with the meal — but with this generation, no one understands the tradition.
The first one opened in 1844 in Southwark. They described it as an “eel pie house” and it was introduced to feed the lower classes, quickly becoming a staple in British diets. But it’s a generational thing more than anything.
A real East End thing, but the hipsters that live in east London now queue for bagels. Brick Lane’s Beigel Bake has queues a mile long because everyone wants to go there. Let’s do the same with pie and mash: let’s make the Cockney classic what it should be. Let’s bring it back and save the shops.
So, if you’ve never tried pie and mash and you’re reading this article, go out and try it. Whether you go to G Kelly on Roman Road, M Manze in Peckham or Goddard’s in Hoxton, just go.
Let’s go out of our way and make pie and mash a thing of today. Not a thing of yesterday. See you next Wednesday.
Track of the week: Pawsa — Pick up the Phone (ft. Nate Dogg)
