The shop’s white-tiled interior with mirrors, seating booths and marble counters helped it be granted the status. Picture: Department of Culture, Media and Sport

Alain Tolhurst
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
4:32 PM

A London pie and mash shop has been granted listed building status for its design and historical interest, and has been labelled ‘a unique part of the capital’s heritage’.

L Manze Eel, Pie and Mash Shop on Walthamstow High Street has been listed. Picture: Department of Culture, Media and Sport

L Manze Eel on Walthamstow High Street was acquired in 1929 by Luigi Manze, who employed the architect Herbert Wright to rebuild it in its present form.

The Manze family continued to run the shop until 1970, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said the shop deserves to be protected because of its classic design, and exists as a link back to London’s past.

A government spokesman said it ‘embodies the standard features of the London eel, pie and mash shop’, with gilt lettering on the shop-front, white-tiled interior with mirrors, seating booths and marble counters.

Its Grade II listed status has been granted as L Manze ‘historically illustrates a type of establishment and cuisine that was a staple of early twentieth century working-class life’.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said L Manze’s is ‘a unique part of the capital’s heritage’. Picture: Department of Culture, Media and Sport

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said: “Pie and Mash shops are as intrinsically linked to London as black cabs and beefeaters.

“L Manze’s in Walthamstow is a unique part of the capital’s heritage, and is as relevant and popular now as it was when it first opened in the 1920s. “It clearly deserves to be given Grade II listed status.

Roger Bowdler, Designation Director for English Heritage said: “Eel, pie and mash shops are a unique feature of the London scene, and represent some of our oldest traditions of fast food.

“This 1920s example with its beautifully preserved interior is among the best of an increasingly rare kind, and strongly deserves to be listed.”

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