JELLIED eels have been a much-loved dish in London’s East End for centuries. But eels could soon vanish for ever from London’s River Thames, experts warn – and their numbers are also at crisis levels across much of Europe.
The Thames’ eel count has crashed by 97 PER CENT in just five years and similar declines have been reported across Europe over the past 20 or 30 years.
A family business that has been serving traditional pie and mash in south-east London for more than 100 years is making way for a burger chain. Brothers Jeff and Kane Goddard served their final meal at Goddards Pie House in Greenwich on Sunday.
Many things are associated with the East End of London, but a real Eastender’s life isn’t all fights in pubs, working on the market and going down to Margate for the Summer. A real staple of east (and parts of south London) life, however, is a traditional pie and mash shop.
Goddard’s Pies started trading in 1890 and is still going strong today with Jeff and Kane Goddard at the helm. The brothers have secured a lease on new premises near Sevenoaks, Kent which will enable them to expand their pie and mash business during 2010.
Pie and mash has been sorely missed in Greenwich since the celebrated Goddards pie shop closed in November 2006. But pie lovers the world over can now rejoice because the Goddard family have opened a mobile unit next to Nat West bank in Greenwich Church Street.
Mick’s eels are sold to Goddard’s pie and mash shop in Greenwich, where Jeff & brother Kane gave me a real lesson in meat pie making. Hard graft, I spent the morning with the lads, but well worth the effort. They sell some 200 hundred per day all doused with liquor, warm boiled eels and chilli vinegar.
The traditional British eel, pie and mash shop is under threat because of dwindling supplies of the fish, according to environmental campaigners. Jellied eels – cooked and sold cold in their own stock – could soon join the ranks of haslet, stotty cake and bara birth as a dish that is only found in rare pockets of Britain.
A FAMILY-RUN pie shop will be battling upper crust big business in the High Court. Goddard’s Pie Shop, which has been dishing-up pies to punters for nearly half a century, is fighting to remain in Greenwich Church Street. And the Goddard family is going all the way to the High Court to challenge a compulsory purchase order placed on its premises by Greenwich Council.
Goddard´s Pie and Mash Shop on Church Street in Greenwich, very close to the Cutty Sark if you are out that way. This is traditional fare at its best. Go have a look at www.pieshop.co.uk to see what they offer. There are a few tables inside and takeaway. Takeaway is not practical unless you are taking it home, unless you are just having a Cornish pastie as a snack. This place serves large portions of steak and kidney pie, Cornish pasties, chicken and mushroom pie, mushy peas, apple pie, cherry pie etc. Bring your appetite. I got enough food for 4 people for 8 pounds.
The delicious fillings simply ooze out of the perfectly baked pastry shells at this historic Greenwich pie shop. If you want to try some traditional Brit cuisine down by the river, then this is the place; they have all the pies, mash, peas and jellied eels you could desire. The proprietors are moving with the times too, now offering some vegetarian options.
Ask about our buffet pies. Great tasting traditional pies, just smaller! Perfect for parties, weddings or office functions.
