Burroughs Eel & Pie House, Brixton.

Posted: June 10, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Class, Eating places, Food, Vanishings | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Burroughs Eel & Pie House, Brixton.

Pie & Mash shop, Brixton, London, 1988Burroughs Eel & Pie House, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. © Tim Marshall.

A University Education by Tim Wells:

The poshos behind me in the pie and mash queue
are puzzled. Firstly that there’s a queue, secondly
that the disappearing London they’d set out to discover
is thriving.
At the counter I order large pie and mash. Easy,
one perfect pie, mash smoothed to the side of the plate
and smothered with liquer. It fair sets a fellow.
There is some disquiet after me however.
Adding some toit to his hoity voice the chap behind
declares ‘I can’t seem to see a menu’.
The old girl serving stabs her wooden spoon
into the steaming vat of mash, stares at him blankly
and states, ‘this is a pie and mash shop dear.’
The rest of us punters burst into laughter.
A toff fumbles for change.

Pie & Mash shop, Brixton, London, 1988© Tim Marshall.

Pie & Mash shop, Brixton, London, 1988© Tim Marshall.

Pie & Mash shop, Brixton, London, 1988© Tim Marshall.

Pie & Mash shop, Brixton, London, 1988© Tim Marshall.

These photos of the staff and patrons of Burroughs Eel and Pie Shop, Coldharbour Lane, were taken by Tim in the 1980s as part of a series on Brixton cafes. Burroughs was originally J. Young’s Eel and Pie House, which opened in 1930. The shop narrowly avoided destruction during the 1981 Brixton riots but closed in the mid-1990s; the premises are currently home to Gyoza, a pan-Asian restaurant.
A University Education © Tim Wells.