M. Manze (Tower Bridge)
Robert Cooke opened an eel and pie house at 87 Tower Bridge Road in 1891, and Michele Manze took it over in 1902 after marrying Cooke's daughter Ada, which makes this the oldest pie and mash shop still trading in London (Southwark News, 2025).
Why go
The Manzes came from Italy in 1878 and sold ice cream before they sold pies, which is the standard route into this trade (Time Out). What they built is a fixed form: minced beef in suet pastry with a flaky lid, mashed potato smeared up the side of the plate, and liquor, a green parsley sauce that historically got its body from eel stock. The room has barely moved since 1902, green tile and marble and wooden booths, and the shop still runs as a lunch trade that shuts by mid-afternoon. Pie and mash is currently a candidate for Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status, the same protection Melton Mowbray pork pies carry, after Richard Holden MP moved for it in the Commons in October 2024 (Time Out, 2024).
Order this / avoid
- Order: one pie, one mash, plenty of liquor, and chili vinegar on the table. Double up on both if you have skipped breakfast. For eels, take them stewed rather than jellied on a first visit; Time Out singles out the stewed ones, and hot eel in liquor is a much easier introduction than cold eel in set jelly.
- Avoid: the default liquor pour if you like a sauce that tastes of parsley. Time Out reckons
the liquor can be a tad too thick,
so ask for it light.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out London:
The Victorian green-tiled interiors speak of history, while the pie and mash is reckoned to be some of the best in town.
The same review gets specific about the build:the mash is smooth, and the pie filling sits nicely between the soft suet-pastry base and the flaky, almost burnt lid.
1 - Parliament (2024): Richard Holden MP called pie and mash
the original fast food
andpart of that Cockney diaspora
in moving for protected status; environment minister Daniel Zeichner replied that the government wouldgo big
on regional food and would welcome aformal application.
2 - Local rec: Jeff's own list, saved as a classic (see his note below).
Good to know
- Which shop this is: the 87 Tower Bridge Road original. Manze also trades in Peckham and Sutton. The Deptford shop, a separate 110-year-old business under a different owner, closed for good on 25 January 2025 when George Mascall retired (Time Out, 2025).
- Timing: lunch trade only, closed Sunday, and it shuts early. Check the Maps listing for the day's exact hours.
- Booking: walk-in, counter service, communal booths. Fine for a group as long as you accept splitting across benches.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, inspected 31 July 2025, all three categories Good5.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Mash and pie classic place." REAL.
Verdict
should-visit — M. Manze is London's oldest surviving pie and mash shop, trading on the same site since 1891 and under the Manze name since 1902, and it still makes pies and liquor to the founding recipes. The cooking is simple by design and will not impress on technique, so the case rests on food culture and on scarcity that is real rather than manufactured: the Deptford shop shut in January 2025 and the dish is currently the subject of a protected-status application. The plate is cheap, it comes fast, and you cannot eat it anywhere else. Not a plan-around meal, but a detour that teaches you something.