Bow Pie Shop on Roman Road Market, Open Sundays: G Kelly

G Kelly, at 526 Roman Road, E3 5ES, makes and bakes its pie, mash, liquor and jellied eels on Roman Road Market, and the family says the building has been a pie and mash shop since the early 1920s. It opens every day, from 11am on Sunday and Monday and from 10am on Friday and Saturday, and it is a ten minute walk from Mile End station. For a pie shop near me search anywhere in Bow or Bethnal Green, this is the old East End answer.

The Kelly name in pie and mash starts in 1915, when Samuel Robert Kelly, a tram driver forced out of the job by an injury, used his compensation money to open an eel and pie shop on Bethnal Green Road. He and his wife Matilda had four children, Samuel, George, Matilda and Joe, and all of them went on to open eel and pie shops of their own.

George Kelly founded this Roman Road shop in 1939, which is why it carries his name. In the mid 1950s it was bought by Bill Kingdon, George's brother-in-law, and today it is run by Sue, Bill's daughter, together with her son Neil. The shop's own history page makes the point that many London eel and pie shops were family businesses handed down through the generations, and this one is a clear example.

The shop's website traces the dish back to the streets. Before eel and pie shops existed, pies were sold by itinerant pie men and eels by street sellers of pea soup and hot eels, and the first pie shops appeared in London in the middle of the nineteenth century. Henry Mayhew's 1851 survey London Labour and the London Poor described pie men tossing a penny with customers: win and you kept pie and penny, lose and the pie man pocketed the coin.

The eels came up the Thames on Dutch vessels to Billingsgate, and Mayhew counted around five hundred eel sellers on the streets on a Saturday, with hot eels priced at a halfpenny for five to seven pieces and most of a cup of liquor. That link to Billingsgate survives in the Thursday to Sunday seafood counter today.

The core order is the same one the shop has served for decades: a minced beef pie with mash and parsley liquor, with jellied eels for those who want the full East End plate. Season it with salt, pepper and chilli vinegar the way regulars do.

From Thursday to Sunday the shop also sells fresh seafood from Billingsgate Market, and the selection changes each week with the season and what is available. Call the shop to pre-order if you want something specific rather than taking your chances at the counter. Allergy advice is given over the phone or when you collect, so ask before you order if anyone in your group has a concern.

Be realistic about the eels. Jellied eels are cold, set in their own jelly and full of small bones, and many first-time visitors find them hard going. Start with pie and mash, and if you are curious, share a small portion of eels across the table rather than ordering a full bowl each.

Normal opening times are Sunday and Monday 11am to 4pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 11am to 6pm, and Friday and Saturday 10am to 7pm. The kitchen closes 30 minutes before the shop does, and the shop warns that it may begin to sell out of some items then. In the last 15 minutes before closing it is takeaway only, so a Monday visit after 3:30pm is a gamble.

Holiday hours are posted on the website, with Christmas opening times still marked as to be confirmed. Orders for collection are taken on the same number, and local delivery and Uber Eats are also available for anyone who cannot get to the market.

G Kelly calls itself the closest pie and mash shop to West Ham United's London Stadium, an easy 20 minute walk away, and talkSPORT's Lee Clayton has recommended it. The shop opens before every men's first team home game, with special late openings for evening kick-offs. The next one listed is Tuesday 8 December, when West Ham host Middlesbrough and the shop stays open 11am to 7pm.

On those days the queue is full of claret and blue scarves and the room gets loud, which is half the appeal. If you want a quiet lunch, avoid match days and market mornings, and come on a Wednesday afternoon instead. The shop notes that it will not open for the Boxing Day game, so plan around that if you are coming for the holiday fixture.

Mile End station, on the Central, District and Hammersmith and City lines, is a ten minute walk. The No. 8 and No. 339 buses stop at Ford Road, just over the crossroads. Drivers get free street parking on Roman Road all day on Sunday, while on market days, which are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, there are one-hour free spaces that must be booked through the RingGo app.

Roman Road Market trades on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so a Saturday visit lets you browse the stalls before lunch. Afterwards walk north to Victoria Park, where the plane trees and the boating lake are at their best in late October. If the benches at G Kelly are full, take your pie to go and eat it in the park, or head south into Mile End Park and follow the Regent's Canal towpath back towards Mile End station.

Address: G Kelly, 526 Roman Road Market, London E3 5ES. Hours: Sunday and Monday 11am to 4pm, Tuesday to Thursday 11am to 6pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 7pm, with the kitchen closing 30 minutes earlier and takeaway only in the final 15 minutes. Fresh seafood Thursday to Sunday. Nearest Tube: Mile End. Buses: 8 and 339 to Ford Road. Christmas hours are still to be confirmed.

Pin G Kelly in the Karpo APP next to Victoria Park and the Saturday market, and Karpo will remind you that the kitchen shuts half an hour before the doors.