Pie and mash

For the place, see Eel Pie Island. For the recording studio, see Eel Pie Studios.

Pie and mash is a traditional working-class food, originating in the Docks of London. The dish has been popularised as "a Cockney classic". It typically consists of a minced beef pie, mashed potato, and a parsley sauce known as liquor. Pie, mash and eel shops have been in London since the 19th century, and are still common in East and South London, and in many parts of Kent and Essex.

Pie and mash

A typical serving of pie and mash with liquor and eels
Alternative names	Pie, mash and liquor
Course	Main course, snack
Place of origin	England
Region or state	London
Associated cuisine	English cuisine
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	Shortcrust pastry, minced meat, mashed potatoes, parsley sauce
Media: Pie and mash

History

During the Victorian era, industrial air pollution tended to be worse in the east and southeast of London because of the prevailing westerly wind, with the result that the East End was settled more by the working classes, while the western part of the city was home to higher social classes.^[1]

Pie and mash originated in the early 1800s, when extensive docks first opened in East London. Dock workers needed an inexpensive, warm meal, and pie men began serving eel pies from carts and market stalls.^[2] The eels typically came from Dutch fishing boats.^[2] Minced meat trimmings later replaced jellied eel.^[2]

The first known pie-and-mash shop was Henry Blanchard, located in Southwark. It opened in 1844. It is this establishment which added mashed potato to the meat pie.^[2] Other early shops^[2] are Robins, established in 1926,^[3] and M.Manze, which opened in Bermondsey in 1892.^[4][5]

During World War II, government food rationing threatened pie and mash shops with closure. However, due to public demand the Ministry of Food was persuaded to allow these traditional eateries to remain open. As a result, pie and mash supplemented family rations amid the widespread national food shortages and along with fish and chips, that other traditional British working-class dish, pie and mash increased in popularity among middle-class families too.^[6][7]

Since 2010, as revealed in a joint study by the Zoological Society of London and the Environment Agency, the number of eels captured in research traps in the River Thames fell from 1,500 in 2005 to 50 in 2010,^[8] meaning most eels used in pie and mash shops are now from the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

While eel consumption continues to go down in the 21st century (in 2000, there was only one stall selling live eels in Billingsgate Market), the number of eel and pie shops has continued to go down: there were 87 eel and pie shops in Greater London in 1995, compared to around 110 at the end of 1800. In 2024 there are just 34 pie shops left. ^[9][7]

Composition

The main dish sold is pie and mash, a minced-beef and cold-water-pastry pie served with mashed potato. There should be two types of pastry used; the bottom or base should be suet pastry and the top can be rough puff or short. It is common for the mashed potato to be spread around one side of the plate. The meat pie and mashed potato are served atop a parsley sauce. Commonly called "liquor sauce" or simply "liquor" (liquor as in a liquid in which something has been steeped or cooked),^[4] it was traditionally made using the water kept from the preparation of the stewed eels, flour, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.^[2] However, many shops no longer use stewed eel water in their parsley liquor,^[2] opting for chicken stock instead.^[4]

Many pie and mash shops serve hot, stewed or cold, jellied eel as a side dish.^[4] Malt vinegar and chilli vinegar are typical condiments used with the dish.^[2][4]

Shops

Before shops became common, trading took place from braziers or carts. It was not until late Victorian times that shops began to appear.^[10] The shops became part of the local community and heritage of their area; for example, L. Manze in Walthamstow became Grade II listed by English Heritage in 2013 due to its architectural and cultural significance.^[11]

Traditionally, pie and mash shops have large open windows, long marble-topped tables, and tiled walls.^[2] Originally, the floor was wood covered in sawdust; removal of the sawdust made for easy cleaning.^[2][4] Today, floors are tiled.^[2] Pie and mash is served with a fork and spoon, almost never with a knife.^[4]

Because of the large number of pleasure boat steamer companies offering Sunday trips on the River Thames, many Eastenders used them to explore the more gentrified west of London. The result was that many also wanted their traditional foods of ale and pie and mash, resulting in the renaming of both a hotel that they frequently visited and the island on which it sat in Twickenham to Eel Pie Island in the early 1900s.^[12]

Pie and mash shops on Deptford High Street

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21st-century decline and current prospect

With the gentrification of South and East London as well as the docklands area, there have been significant socio-economic and demographic changes in the London neighbourhoods traditionally most associated with pie and mash.^[13] Through the 2020s, industry experts continue to note that affluent new locals are now more interested in "lattes and paninis" than a dish typically associated with working-class Londoners.^[14] As a result of the declining customer base, historic and famous pie and mash shops including L. Manze in Walthamstow have been forced to close and their premises taken over by new incumbents.^[15] In May 2023, for example, the iconic Grade II listed art-deco building at 9 Broadway Market in Hackney, which had been home to F. Cooke's pie and mash shop for the previous 120 years, was taken over by Cubitts, a company that designs and handcrafts bespoke eyewear.^[16] W.J. Arments Eel & Pie House at Walworth, founded in 1914, with its glazed tiled walls, marble table tops, opening sash windows and a floor covered with sawdust, is one of the few shops to have thrived in the changing socio-economic climate.^[17]

Proposals have been raised in the British Parliament to declare a Traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) label for the dish.^[18] In February 2025, 15 producers settled on a standard recipe of minced beef in flaky pastry with liquor and mash to support the TSG application.^[2]