Favourite Pie & Mash Shops (Part One)
I have grown so skinny these past months at the end of Winter – chasing stories around Spitalfields – that I decided to undertake a tour of my favourite Pie & Mash Shops in the company of Spitalfields Life contributing photographer Sarah Ainslie, in order to explore all the delights on offer and put some meat on my bones into the bargain.
Pie & Mash Shops have a special place in my affections because they are unique to East London and inextricably bound up with the cultural and historical identity of this place – becoming destinations where people enjoy pilgrimages to seek sustenance for body and soul, by paying homage to the spirit of the old East End incarnated in these tiled, steamy temples dedicated to the worship of hot pies. Let me admit, it is a creed I can subscribe to wholeheartedly.
Taking our cue from that golden orb in the sky, Sarah & I decided to commence in the East and work our way West across the territory, beginning with G. Kelly, established since 1937 at 526 Roman Rd. Here we had the privilege to be welcomed by the lovely Sue Venning – resplendent in her white uniform – the proprietor who greets everyone universally with a brisk yet cheery “Yes, Love?” – commonly reciprocated by “Hello, Gorgeous.” It was a delight to walk into this sympathetic, clean and bright interior, adorned with daffodils and lined with marble and tiles, gleaming under the globe lamps.
“My Aunt Theresa on my father’s side married George Kelly who opened this in 1937,” explained Sue, introducing the intricate web of relations that connect this establishment to the two other Pie & Mash Shops by the name of Kelly, all independently run today by increasingly distant relatives as the generations pass by. “Samuel Robert Kelly opened up originally in Bethnal Green in 1915 – he had three sons, Samuel who took over in Bethnal Green, Joe who opened in Bonner St and George who came here to the Roman Rd. My father Bill (George Kelly’s brother-in-law) ran this with my mother Bea, until he died in 1969, and then I took over from her in 1990.” she outlined with a relaxed smile and a practised efficiency that left me reeling.
Arriving with the first customers of the day, I was fascinated to discover that my fellow diners were from Suffolk and Kent, and had gone out of their way to be there. In particular, the couple from East Anglia were up to visit their nan who lived nearby, and Sue confirmed that many of her customers were those who had once moved out of the East End, for whom a return visit to her Pie & Mash Shop was an opportunity to revisit a taste of home. Yet Sue retains a solid constituency in the Roman Rd. “People know each other here,” she confirmed fondly, “You know their orders when they come in, they don’t need to ask.”
We hit the rush at G. Kelly, 414 Bethnal Green Rd, (connected only genealogically to G. Kelly, Roman Rd) where Matt Kelly, proprietor for the last fifteen years, baker and third generation pie man, had his work cut out in the kitchen to meet the lunchtime demand for pie and mash and liquor at £2.65. Diners here eat off elegant cast iron tables beneath framed portraits of local boxing heroes of yesteryear and everyone is at home in one of this neighbourhood’s cosiest destinations.
At the head of the lunch queue was Mrs Julia Richards. “I’m going to be ninety-eight,” she bragged with a winsome grin, the picture of exuberance and vitality as she carried off her plate of pie and mash hungrily to her favourite corner table, pursued by her sprightly seventy-year-old daughter Patricia – both superlative living exemplars for the sustaining qualities of traditional East End meat pies. “I’ve been coming here over fifty years,” revealed Patricia proudly. “I’ve been coming here since before it opened!” teased Julia, her eyes shining with excitement as she cut into her steaming meat pie.“They used to have live eels outside in a bucket,” she continued, enraptured by memory, “And you could pick which one you wanted to eat.” We left them absorbed in their pies, the very epitome of human contentment, beneath a hand-lettered advertising placard, proclaiming “Kelly for Jelly.”
Up at F.Cooke in Broadway Market, once we had emptied our plates of some outstandingly delicious pies, Sarah & I enjoyed a quiet after-lunch cup of tea with the genial Robert Cooke – “Cooke by name cook by nature” – whose great-grandfather Robert Cooke opened a Pie & Mash Shop at the corner of Brick Lane and Sclater St in 1862. “My father taught me how to make pies and his father taught him. We haven’t changed the ingredients and they are made fresh every day,” explained Robert plainly, a fourth generation born-piemaker sitting proudly in his immaculately preserved cafe, that offers the rare chance to savour the food of more than century ago.
“My grandfather Robert opened this shop in 1900, then he left to open another in the Kingsland Rd, Dalston in 1910 and Aunty May ran this one until 1940, when they shut it after a doodlebug hit the canal bridge.” he recounted. “My mother Mary came over from Ireland in 1934 and worked with my grandfather in Dalston, alongside my father Robert and Uncle Fred. And after they got married in 1947, my grandfather said to my parents, ‘Here’s the keys, open it up,’ and they returned here to Broadway Market, where I was born in 1948.”
It was a tale as satisfying in its completeness as eating a pie, emphasising how this particular cuisine and these glorious shops are interwoven with the family histories of those who have run them and eaten at them for generations. Yet beyond the rich poetry of its cultural origin, this is good-value wholesome food for everyone, freshly cooked without additives, and meat pies, vegetable pies, fruit pies and jellied eels comprise a menu to suit all tastes. Reluctantly, after three Pie & Mash Shops in one day, Sarah & I were finished – but even as we succumbed to the somnolence induced by our intake of pies, we took consolation in dreamy thoughts of all those pleasures that await us in the other Pie & Mash Shops of the East End, yet to come.
This is Dean Cecil who bakes the pies at G.Kelly in the Roman Rd.
Sue Venning at G.Kelly, Roman Rd – her Aunt Theresa, who married George Kelly, is the woman in the dark coat, pictured in the black and white photo, standing outside the shop in 1937.
Liquor (Parsley sauce) and mash at G.Kelly
G.Kelly, 526 Roman Rd.
At G.Kelly, Bethnal Green
The prizefighters of yesteryear fondly remembered in the Pie & Mash Shop in Bethnal Green.
Julia Richards, nearly ninety-eight – “They used to have live eels outside and you could pick your own.”
Regulars, Julia Richards and her sprightly daughter Patricia Wootton aged seventy, at the favoured corner table at G.Kelly, Bethnal Green.
G.Kelly, 414 Bethnal Green Rd
Jellied Eels at F.Cooke
Robert Cooke under the clock commissioned by his grandfather Robert Cooke from a clockmaker in Hackney in 1911.
Robert Cooke, fourth generation pie-maker -“Cooke by name, cook by nature.”
Pat with a tray of pies at Broadway Market
F.Cooke, 9 Broadway Market, since 1900.
Photographs copyright © Sarah Ainslie
what? what? you put the parsley sauce ON the pie? **rushes off to consult grigson, English Food, and white, Good Things in England.
Hej
A lovely trip down memory lane for me…Thank You!
And now my tongue is hanging out for Pie n Mash…lol!
But definitely not on the menu tonight, in the middle of the Swedish forest.
I was born in Bethnal Green Hospital nearly 46 years ago…
Born & brought up on Pie n Mash, have visited all of these shops, and sadly my local one as a child growinp up in the East End, Well Street market, closed several years ago 🙁
Awwwww Pie n Mash, best food ever!
LOVE PEACE enJOY!
Julie
x
On my next visit to the UK, I will have to make a stop at one of these shops. Pies look divine and the jellied eels look very interesting, will have to sample some.
I’m sat here drooling, and seriously thinking about making the 400 mile round trip for 2 and 2 with licquor.
Aw ma gawd!
Hurrah for this – I’m a huge pie and mash fan. Raised on it at Cooke’s Kingsland shop, where, as Julia says – you could watch eels being chopped into wriggling bits in the left window. A great spectator sport for an 10 year old boy.
Of all the outlets featured Cooke’s in Broadway Market is my favourite. I know it’s off your patch, but I tried Cooke’s of Hoxton on Tuesday – the owner looks just like Robert Cooke..
PS watch out for me in Pellici’s this Friday lunchtime if you’re about..
For some supplementary reading have a peep at my y reviews of the same eataries here
http://planetmondo.blogspot.com/search/label/happy%20eater
Our local was in Watney Market – I’m sure Sandra Esqulant would be very familiar with it. Pie and mash and the all important liquor was a regular treat in our house – I can still ‘taste’ the very particular consistency of the wet pastry. Wouldn’t dare try it now though for fear of disappointment. One of the few remaining pie and mashes here in Newham – Robin’s in East Ham – has just closed due to falling demand. It’ll probably go over to the fried chicken so loved by local school children.
Best wishes,
Joan
Thank you for bringing back so many wonderful memories….. I too can taste and smell the one of a kind, wonderful flavours – the steam of the vinegar on the hot liquor wafting mmmm….. My family and I would always drive to Cooke’s in Dalston – just for the convenience. But when I was very young living on Glyn Road, Clapton, there was a local pie n mash shop along Chatsworth Road called Arthur Thom’s. long since gone now I’m afraid. My older brother starting working there as Saturday boy peeling 100’s of potatoes. Living in the US now, I only return home every other year or so, but just last summer, my brother drove me back to the East End so I could get my “fix”. Yes, happy memories indeed…
None of your many posts have made me more homesick or more hungry, maybe I should open a P&M in the Middle East…..
And don’t forget south of the river, not just the East End! Manzes, Tower Bridge Road and Peckham; Cooke’s in the Cut, Waterloo (now gone); Goddards in Greenwich (the oldest established P&M in London). I’m salivating…..
It’s a bit tougher if you’re veggie, but I still enjoy my double mash and liquor, at Cooke’s on the Goldhawk Road. Lovely.
Along with Robin’s in East Ham, Peter’s Pie & Mash Shop in Watney Street near Shadwell station has recently closed.
Shame we can’t make them heritage sites or something.
Support your local pie and mash shop!
There is also a Robin’s Pie and Mash shop in Romford, divine.
i love jellied eels but i have a morbid fear of both the mash in pie and mash shops…and of course the liquor. much as i admire the metrosexualist, david beckham, who is said to fed ex pie, mash and liquor to LA on a regular basis, and even though roy orbison loved britain as much for the P, M & L as our early appreciation of his falsetto tones, i can’t go there.
it’s funny tho because even here in west london, all the pie and mash shops are called Cooks (with or without an E). What’s all that about.
I just nominated Spitalfields Life as best blog in the Observer Foods Awards. Maybe you should too.
As a young apprentice carpenter working just off the Burdet Road, Every lunchtime was at Charlies Pie n Mash without fail, Long since gone, I am now 78yrs,and still remember it.
Love pie and mash, but why do these shops always make use of marble-topped counters and tables? Added to the usual lukewarm meal, (and likely an open door), your grub is always cold!
My favourite Pie’N’Mash shops, still go to Cookes when I can too
oh my god my child hood memorys there bethnal green …… i was born and lived till age 11 and my nan took me to kellys every week as a treat .. pie and mash and pie to eat on way home yum xxxxxx miss it so much xxxx
Brings back memories of childhood holidays at Nan and Grandads – walk over the bridge to 414 Roman Road or down the Roman to the other one.
The pie and mash shop was a must.
So glad they still exist – wish they were available in Brisbane
I am a Genuine cockney living in South Africa. Left London 15yrs ago to retire here for medical reasons. I am going back to London in 2 weeks for my last visit, to say goodbye to family and friends and savour the delights of the East End. I could write a book about the East End, and am expecting many changes,not all good. But, the expense and trouble will be worth it when I savour that first bowl of eels and the first P&M for 15yrs
just wondering if the family that run cookes pie and mash shops could be long lost relatives of mine as my maiden name was cooke.
Many’s the time I’ve spent in or around Brick Lane over the years, either with mates in Dalston, Business in Whitechapel, Deals in the Mile End Rd, Pints in the Rodney Head or the one round from the old brewery, and finally above a curry house where my buddy lays his weary bones at night… I’ve had many a curry in a hurry, many a rabbit out of habit, but the one thing that still makes me squeal, is a pie some mash and a Jellied Eel… now I live on the South Coast but next time it won’t be the Bagel shop I want the most, I’ll be heading to G. Kelly to pamper my belly.
Thanks for your fantastic blog – I’ll be back for more, for sure, now I’m out the door….
X
T. Rundall formerly of that manor
Hi,
I was born and grew up in east london and must say traditional pie mash and liquor is the food of the gods. my first words i spoke beleive it or not, was pie and mash and i said it to my mum while sitting on the counter of the pie and mash shop in Woolwich SE London when i was only knee high.
I emigrated to australia some 18 years ago and still long for this wonderful dish, and seeing photos here on this site has me drowling like a dog after a bone. alas no such thing here as pie and mash, nothing even close.
so every one over there eating this superb food enjoy and savor every bite you dont know how lucky you are.
paul
New South Wales
Australia
there is also a COOKES pie and mash shop that has a full menu including fruit pies ,this is located in the shops of Hilldene off of Straight Road Romford ,their meat pies are i think the best of them all and the portions of mash are very very generous too
For Denise Hoffman have a look on my link, you may get a surprise
after enjoying pie and mash since the 50s in the east end, i moved away to essex and had to travel to romford to robins pie and mash shop. i am delighted to say that robins have opened in southend-on-sea. right in the middle of town.after reading about the many pie and mash shops i have to mention harris’s in roman road near bonner street. now gone. it was run by mrs harris and was a big favourite in the area.
Also a big lover of p and m. As a child used the one in West Ham Lane (Lediard’s) now some sort of chicken joint. Saturday morning pictures, 6d and then up to the Pie & Mash 7d. Luvverly. Been to both Kellys in Roman Road (market), one in Cambridge Heath Road, one in Bethnal Green Road, Manzies in Chapel Street Market and Goddards in Greenwich, plus the one in Tower Bridge Road also one in Green Street (Duncan’s?), before the match at West Ham (sadly closed down but lovely p & m), didn’t like the one round the corner in the Barking Road. So having given quite a few shops a visit, none taste like my childhood Lediards. Y0u can also get frozen p & m from Sainsbury (Cooke) – not bad but you don’t get the atmosphere of these lovely old shops. Left several off but I am sure they will get a mention. Long live Pie and Mash, and good old eels.
As Norma I used Lediards in West Ham Lane, living just down the road with my brothers and sisters,in family Florist shop, and loved the pie and mash, the best ever. But recently had pie and mash at Franks Pie and Mash, Canvey Island, Essex where i now live and it was the best pie and mash i’ve had for years,99.9% as good as Lediards,(the point one left off as no sawdust on floor, ha ha) highly recomended. Stewed and Jellied eels and afters as well.
Hi, great read! Took me back to going to ‘Berts’ on the Old Kent Road with the old man. Lovely memories, and the food of Kings.
Anybody remember the Pie and Mash shop in Hackney Road,next too the mens Tailors shop Temples, nearly faceing the Childrens Hostpital, got my first taste of them their in the 1950s?
No one has mentioned the pie and mash shop in Waltham Abbey. With a mug of tea and fruit pie and custard to die for. Also long gone the little one in Cambridge Heath Road, happy days… also one in Debden still doing the honours…
to ian silverton , ah yes ! the pie shop in hackney road next to the tailors called “Temples” and also next door was the bakers called Barnets used to get to hot jam donuts on the way to school each morning , two old women ran the pie shop and it was also opened till late, big pies very ,very nice actually my father had a suit made for me in the tailors ,two brothers owned it , i was eleven at the time but i lived just off of Hackney road up till i was 16, then moved to Globe road of the Roman road im now 70 living in Dagenham , ive eaten pie and mash from all over london and the best is from Cookes’s in Hilldene Romford which is run by the son of the owner in the BROADWAY MARKET,i used to live on the Dinmont Estate Pritchards road
to Leslie Holeyman, well im sorry to say that i went to Waltham Abbey pie and mash shop, David Beckham’s pictures on the wall but it really was a load of rubbish ! and the portion of mash was just a scrapping overall it was tasteless , sorry for that but it really was the worst ive ever had , and i had to queue for it
I tasted the Pie, mash and eel and it was too awesome. The taste of stewed and/or jellied eels was equally delectable to my tongue. Wanted to have more, but was haunted by the over bursting tummy. Will be there next time soon!
I was brought up in Highbury and Stoke Newington as a kid. My regular pie shop was Manze’s in Chapel Market at the Angel. I also used to go to Cookes in Dalston where I remember seeing Arthur Mullard quite often. Another one I visit whenever I get the chance is Manze’s on Tower Bridge Road, but whenever I use public transport to get to the Arsenal, I always return to Manze’s in Chapel Market.
Death row? Last meal? Double Pie, Mash and Liquor please!
To Ian Silverton I remember the pie shop in Hackney rd next to the tailors, got to admit it wasn’t one I liked. I was brought up on Pie and mash from Fortunes in Hoxton, and cookes in Kingsland rd and Broadway market, also with the odd visit to Kelly’s in Bethnal Green and the Roman. We have one that has opened in Wanstead (Robins), that has recreated the look of the old fashioned Pie shop and it is quite good and has become my regular pie shop.
Stephen Jackson,used Robins Pie Shop when stayed in Wanstead, always sat outside,summer or winter, bit cramped inside, very friendly ladies work there,or did when I used it.
I was born in late 1947 and until about 1954/5 lived on the Pembury Estate, Dalston (?) At the tender age of about 5/6 I went with friends to Saturday morning pictures and on to a pie and mash shop but have no idea where. Unimaginable that children today would be given such freedom. I last ate pie and mash and jellied eels at a shop in Greenwich, not far from the Cutty Sark.
I am making a literary journey of England’s history and culture. As an American, the concept of eating jellied eels is strange indeed. I had smoked eel and at an Eastern European market in Sarasota, Florida so I would not “knock it til I tried it”. Life has some unexpected delicious surprises for the adventurous traveller.
I love the article, but need to correct you. The pie and mash shop isn’t unique to the east end of London. I grew up on the Old Kent Road, decidedly south of the River. We had a couple of Pie and Mash shops on Walworth Road and one in the Elephant.
Good article all the same.
The pie and mash shop in Hackney rd was Mercer’s facing Goldsmith Row I’ve never had better l used to go there in the early 5os 60s and the first few years of the 70s.
.