Greenwich Pie Shop Since 1890, Open From 10am: Goddards

Goddards at Greenwich, at 22 King William Walk, SE10 9HU, opens at 10am every day and serves pie, mash and liquor without a reservation. It sits by the Turnpin Lane entrance to Greenwich Market, a short walk from Cutty Sark DLR station, and the pies are baked on the premises to recipes the family says have not changed since 1890. If you typed pie shop near me somewhere between the Cutty Sark and the park gates, this is the counter to walk into.

Alfred Goddard opened the first shop on Evelyn Street in Deptford in 1890. He handed it to his sons Robert, known as Bob, and George in 1936, and in 1952 a second shop opened in Greenwich, the same year the Cutty Sark went into dry dock. For a while pies were baked in Deptford and driven over by van, until the brothers split the shops and Bob took Greenwich.

Bob retired in 1972 and passed the Pie House to his eldest son Dave and his wife Pam, who added Sunday trading. Dave died in 1990, and Pam and their sons Jeff and Kane ran the business until the old property was sold in 2006. Jeff and Kane then set up Goddard's Pies with partner Sean Horton and, after a long search, reopened at King William Walk, which is the shop you queue in today.

The order that defines the place is the handmade minced beef pie, made with 100% British minced beef, served with mash and green parsley liquor. Regulars finish it with salt, pepper and a shake of chilli vinegar from the bottles on every table. Hungry visitors scale up: the board lists pie and double mash, double pie and mash, and a triple pie and mash for anyone who skipped breakfast on the walk from the river.

The full range runs well beyond mince. There is chilli minced beef, steak and ale, chicken and ham, lamb and rosemary, steak and kidney, chicken and mushroom, cheese and onion, a veggie soya pie called The Banks, and a beef and veg pasty. Each comes with mash and your choice of liquor or gravy, with peas or baked beans on the side. A gluten free minced beef pie with gluten free liquor is also available if you ask the staff.

Eels are the other half of the old trade, offered hot or jellied, or as pie, mash and eels on one plate. They are an acquired taste, full of small bones, and on a first visit most people are better off spending their appetite on a second pie. Try a forkful from a friend's plate before committing to a whole portion.

Desserts are handmade, and in autumn they make a strong case for staying seated. The fruit pies come in apple or cherry, the crumbles in apple, rhubarb or apple and blackcurrant, and each is served with custard, ice cream or both. Sticky toffee pudding, chocolate sponge and bread and butter pudding appear too, though the menu notes some puddings are only on occasionally.

For Americans in London who miss home around Thanksgiving, which falls on Thursday 26 November 2026, a hot apple pie with custard here is a fair stand-in for the real thing, and cheaper than any hotel dessert menu. Order it with the savoury course so it is ready when your plate is cleared, because the counter gets busy after the lunchtime rush from the market stalls.

Opening hours are Monday to Thursday 10am to 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 8pm, and Sunday 10am to 7:30pm. The room is air conditioned and licensed and seats 125, with traditional wooden benches as well as tables and chairs, plus highchairs for small children. Weekend lunchtimes fill up fastest because the market crowd and the park crowd arrive at the same time.

Service is counter style. You order and pay at the front, then carry your tray to a seat, much like a museum café. Sit near the counter if you want the back-and-forth with the staff the family calls the London banter, or climb to the first floor for a window over the Greenwich streets. Takeaway is available at the same counter, and delivery runs through Just Eat and Uber Eats.

The crowd is a mix you rarely see in one room. Families with pushchairs fresh from the market, couples who have just come down from the Royal Observatory, and older Londoners who drive in from Kent for liquor and stewed eels all share the benches. Reviews posted on the shop's own site through 2026 keep returning to the same two points, generous portions and a short wait even at lunch.

When the queue reaches the door on a sunny Saturday, ask for takeaway and carry your pie up the hill into Greenwich Park, where the slope below the Royal Observatory gives you a view across the Thames to Canary Wharf. If you would rather sit inside another tiled pie and mash room, M. Manze on Tower Bridge Road in Bermondsey is a short train ride away and keeps the same minced beef and liquor tradition.

Start at the Cutty Sark, the tea clipper whose move into dry dock in 1952 coincided with the Greenwich shop's opening. Walk up King William Walk past the shop, duck into Greenwich Market for its covered stalls, then continue to the gates of Greenwich Park. In late October the avenues of sweet chestnut trees on the way up to the Royal Observatory start to turn, and the meridian line at the top makes an easy finish before heading back down for pudding.

Address: Goddards at Greenwich, 22 King William Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9HU. Email: info@goddardsatgreenwich.co.uk. Hours: Monday to Thursday 10am to 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 8pm, Sunday 10am to 7:30pm. Nearest station: Cutty Sark DLR, with several buses serving Greenwich town centre. Eat in, takeaway, Just Eat and Uber Eats are all available, and the shop also hosts pie and mash parties for groups. Ask the staff about allergens before you order.

Use the Karpo APP to save Goddards to a Greenwich day plan, so the market, the park and the pie counter line up in the right order for your visit.