Manzes Eel, Pie And Mash Shop

Manze's Eel, Pie and Mash Shop is a late 19th-century house with a shop located at 87 Tower Bridge Road in Southwark. The building is constructed of red brick and features a parapeted roof. It stands three storeys high and has a two-window range with authentic glazing. The shop front is flanked by fluted Corinthian pilasters, and it includes a blind box and an awning that are still in working order. The external woodwork is stained brown, and on either side of the central door are windows with plate-glass sashes and wide marble sills for serving customers from the pavement.

Inside, the eel and pie shop was fitted up in 1895, and the interior remains largely unaltered, although it has been extended to the rear at a later date. The walls are lined with a mix of white, cream, brown, green, and black tiles, occasionally accented by vertical panels decorated with pink flowers. All woodwork, including the dumb-waiter from the kitchen in the cellar, is stained brown, as are the bolection-moulded frames of the mirrors that are integral to the decor. Customers are seated at wooden benches at marble-topped tables, with metal supports screwed to a terrazzo floor.

Historically, eel and pie shops are unique to London and nearby seaside towns like Southend. They were established by a group of families, including the Cookes, Manzes, and Burroughs, who are now intermarried. No. 87 Tower Bridge Road was the first of a chain of shops opened by Michael Manze, a former greengrocer who immigrated from Italy around 1880-1890. This shop has one of the best interiors among the few remaining such establishments.