A pie and mash is a minced beef pie, a scoop of mash and a ladle of parsley liquor, with jellied or stewed eels if you want them. Fourteen shops once carried the Manze name and most of them have gone, the last of them in Deptford, listed building and all.
Pie, mash and liquor.
how it is eaten · Bermondsey, Peckham, Deptford, Bow and Poplar
What it is
Why it matters here
In October 2024 Richard Holden, then the MP for Basildon and Billericay, asked Parliament for Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status for the dish, having written first to forty MPs whose constituencies hold a pie and mash shop. 1 The status would put it beside Scottish salmon, Welsh lamb and the Cornish pasty, and the environment minister said the government would welcome a formal application. 1 Historic England had already listed the Deptford shop in 2023 for "a distinct vernacular cuisine that formed a staple of working-class life in London". 2
How it is done
The pie gets its gravy before the lid goes on, not after: a modest amount into each one, then the top layer of pastry, then the oven. 3 Joanne Gould's note on the bake is that the beef is minced on site and the pies come out "shiny and brown (sometimes very brown, but then they're best like that)". 4 The potatoes are peeled and cooked overnight and mashed only when an order comes in. 3 The liquor is made fresh in each shop on the day it is sold, and the family will say it is parsley sauce with a proprietary ingredient in it and no more than that. 3 The eels come in daily and are prepared on the premises. 3
Who does it
Robert Cooke opened the Tower Bridge Road shop in 1891 and his son-in-law Michele Manze took it on in 1902. 2 The Manzes had come from Ravello on the Amalfi coast in 1878 and sold ice cream first. 7 Jake Missing gives the two families the standing they have in the trade: "Alongside Cooke, the Manze name is to pie and mash what the Rouxs are to haute French cuisine." 5
On the list
best version at
M. Manze (Tower Bridge)It is the oldest eel and pie shop in London, and the pie still sits between a suet base and a flaky lid.
“The Tower Bridge Road branch is the oldest eel and pie shop in London, originally opened by pie shop pro Robert Cooke in 1891 and taken over by his son-in-law Michele Manze in 1902.”
Time Out London, Leonie Cooper, 7 January 2025 [2]
best version at
Mēs Pies & WineIt is the one pie and mash shop in London to have taken a British Pie Award.
“at their own dish by becoming the only pie and mash shop in London to scoop a prestigious British Pie Award."”
Bridget Galton, Ham and High, quoted on the shop's own site [9]
Where to get it
M. Manze (Tower Bridge) is the oldest eel and pie shop in London and the one
to start at.
2
Time Out's line on the plate there is precise about what is good and what is
not: the mash is smooth and the filling "sits nicely between the soft
suet-pastry base and the flaky, almost burnt lid, but
the liquor can be a
tad too thick".
7 Jake Missing sends you to
Maureen's in Poplar instead, "a 'cockney
food bar'… making arguably London's best traditional pie and mash".
5
Mēs Pies & Wine in Kensal Green is the outlier, and Bridget Galton's
line is that it is "the only pie and mash shop in London to scoop a
prestigious British Pie Award".
9 On the eels, Jonathan Nunn is firm: "If you
absolutely must, get stewed eels."
6
The story
Fourteen shops once carried the Manze name and most of them have gone.
2
Islington shut in 2017, Walthamstow's L Manze followed, and Deptford closed in
January 2025 at a hundred and ten years old, listed building and all, because
no family members were keen on taking over the business
.
2
Jonathan Nunn writes that "There is no one standout pie and mash shop in
London; they've all packed off to Essex."
6 The
surviving boards have added a vegan pie and changed nothing else.
8
Sources & mentions
- [1]Time Out London, Leonie Cooper, 23 October 2024, on what the dish is
“True pie ‘n’ mash is made up of a minced beef pie, mashed potato and parsley sauce aka liquor. If protected status is given, a recipe for classic pie ’n’ mash, will have to be agreed on.”
“Earlier this week, Richard Holden – the Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay – called for Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status for the iconic London-born meal.”
“TSG status is already given to Scottish salmon, Welsh lamb and Cornish pasties, and minsters have backed the new motion, with Environment minister Daniel Zeichner saying that government would ‘go big’ on regional food and would welcome a ‘formal application’ to preserve the carb-y classic dish of pie, mash and liquor.”
“Prior to the debate, Holden had written to 40 MPs in constituencies with pie ‘n’ mash shops.”
- [2]Time Out London, Leonie Cooper, 7 January 2025, on how many shops there were
“It was the first of 14 stores to bear the Manze’s name, most of which are now closed. The Manze family originally hailed from Ravello on the Amalfi coast in southern Italy.”
“In 2023 the Deptford store was granted Grade II listed status by Historic England, with its tiled interior, wooden benches, and terrazzo flooring praised for being a ‘rare and well-preserved eel, pie and mash shop of the early C20, representing a distinct vernacular cuisine that formed a staple of working-class life in London’.”
“Other recent pie and mash closures include Walthamstow’s L Manze’s, while Islington’s M Manze’s closed in 2017.”
“The statement also revealed that no family members were keen on taking over the business.”
- [3]M Manze, own site, on the liquor
“We add a secret, proprietary ingredient that provides our parsley sauce with a savoury significance your taste buds will never forget. All our liquor is made fresh in our shops on the day that it’s sold.”
“A modest amount of gravy is added to each pie before the pie receives its top layer of pastry and is sent to the oven for cooking in the traditional manner.”
“We select only the highest quality potatoes and peel and cook them on site while most of London is still asleep. The final step, mashing, only occurs when they’re required for an order.”
“The eels you’ll get from M.Manze are delivered fresh to our shops every day and prepared on the premises.”
- [4]Londonist, Joanne Gould, 27 October 2019, on the pie
“Pies are the traditional minced beef and touch of gravy, with all beef minced on site, baked until shiny and brown (sometimes very brown, but then they're best like that) then drowned in the famous parsley liquor (if you wish).”
“Cover it in chilli vinegar and add a side of jellied — or stewed — eels like a real East Ender.”
- [5]The Infatuation London, Jake Missing, 30 August 2023, on the two names
“Alongside Cooke, the Manze name is to pie and mash what the Rouxs are to haute French cuisine.”
“The suet leans soggy but the mixture is pleasingly traditional, especially alongside smears of almost-smooth mash.”
“Maureen's is a 'cockney food bar' in Poplar making arguably London's best traditional pie and mash.”
- [6]Vittles, Jonathan Nunn, 29 April 2022, dissenting
“There is no one standout pie and mash shop in London; they’ve all packed off to Essex.”
“If you absolutely must, get stewed eels. Jellied eels will get you a good story and confirm every prejudice you’ve ever heard about British cuisine.”
- [7]Time Out London, on the plate at M Manze
“The liquor can be a tad too thick, though the mash is smooth, and the pie filling sits nicely between the soft suet-pastry base and the flaky, almost burnt lid.”
“Michele Manze and family arrived from Italy in 1878, started out as ice-cream merchants and finally opened this pie, mash and eel shop on Tower Bridge Road in 1902.”
- [8]Time Out London, Leonie Cooper, 26 May 2026, on the board
“These days, they’ve updated the board to include a vegan option, but aside from that, the menu is proudly no frills. Pie. Mash. Liquor. Eels (jellied or stewed).”
- [9]