There Goes The Neighbourhood...

The start to the new year saw the departure of one of the oldest businesses in my part of the East End as Duncan’s Pie and Mash shop on Green Street closed for good.


Joan Holt seving the masses

Although I was a relatively late convert to the pleasure of green liquor and pies done London-stylee, I have now tried a wide variety of this fare in different parts of London and can say, hand on heart with no hint of local bias, that Duncan’s was the best I’d come across.

And that was no mean feat given that there was some stiff competition in the area from Robin’s in nearby East Ham and also from Nathan’s just the other side of the Boleyn Ground.

The only thing I've never got to grips with is jellied eels.  I tried them back in the late 1980s and they were horrible - never again!

The local pie and mash shops are full to the gunnels on match-days as exiled Hammers fans poured into the area but trade at other times is patchy as the older residents of the borough die off or move out of the area.

Unfortunately the pleasures of pie and mash have failed to catch the imagination of the more recent influx of residents. Presumably no one has yet produced halal pie and mash?

Just recently Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain TV series visited Robin’s shop - Oliver tried to persuade viewers that pies originated in Egypt but I suspect that they were a pale imitation of what we know and love today.

Nevertheless it was still nice to see the footage of the shop. In an interview, the owners hinted they would be closing and sure enough the shop was long gone by the time the programme was transmitted – a shame after almost ninety years in business.



David Holt - keep the spuds boiling

 I’d popped into Duncan’s last week for a couple of takeaway pies and proprietor Joan said she was  pleased I'd dropped in – would I let the Pie and Mash club know that they were closing up in case anyone wanted to make a final visit?

Joan had been very impressed with the appetites of some members of the club when making their last visit back in 2010.

Joan added that they’d been going for forty years and that now was probably the time to call it a day.

And so the big day came and it was time for one last visit for a 2 and 2 – double pie and double mash. I made my way there before noon to beat the rush and managed to bag a seat. Whilst there I took a few final shots of the place, including some behind the scenes.

I had a quick chat with John – busy backstage in charge of the pies and mash – who although looking forward to taking thngs a bit easier said that he would miss his customers, especially on match days.

And then a farewell to Joan, busy serving at the front, before I left taking with me a few final pies for the freezer.

The queue was almost out of the door by then and I heard that later on that the queue stretched almost to the tube station and many fans failed to get in for a last taste.