So Long, G. Kelly Of Bethnal Green

October 21, 2026

by the gentle author

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G.Kelly in happier days

This week, I was so saddened to confront the long-closed-up premises of G. Kelly at 444 Bethnal Green Rd – which shut in 2018 never to reopen – that I realised I needed to publish a belated elegy for this beloved institution which served pie and mash to loyal East End customers for over a century.

Sue Venning of G.Kelly pie and mash (still open and flourishing at 526 Roman Rd) kindly outlined the genealogy. “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.”

Years have passed now since contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie and I hit the lunchtime rush at G. Kelly, Bethnal Green Rd, (connected only genealogically to G. Kelly, Roman Rd) where Matt Kelly, proprietor, baker and third generation pie man, had his work cut out in the kitchen to meet the demand for pie and mash and liquor at £2.65. Diners ate off elegant cast iron tables beneath framed portraits of local boxing heroes of yesteryear and everyone was at home in one of the 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.”

S. & R. Kelly & Sons (connected only genealogically to G. Kelly) remains open at 284 Bethnal Green Rd.