The name F. Cooke looms large in North London folklore. Shops bearing this legend have provided hope and succour – and reasonably-priced tucker – to generations of working men and women. But word reached us recently of the imminent closure of one of its most famed establishments at Broadway Market, London Fields.

On March 15th, we of the Club ventured thither to pay our most respectful lunch moneys at this cornerstone of the London Pie and Mash scene. As we queued orderly at the marble counter, the most prosaic, workaday items in plain view took on poignant significance.

It was a history-minded crew that assembled at Bob Cooke’s pie room, among them the soberly-dressed Paul Gale, who soiled his lodge necktie in the most honourable way. It could become a ritual.
 
Monty Martin ventured in from remote shires to imbibe the scoff of ages. His bold magenta-and-rubine raiment and white goatee lent him a gnomish jollity belying his once fearsome reputation as a hanging judge. It was a great privilege to be joined by this august representative of the original Pie and Mash Club of Great Britain, who craftily bagged the day’s high score of 27.5.

Behold the mythical foodstuffs.

A half point behind Martin was Pete Harvey with a fulsome and full-mouthed four pie flourish.

Moore had less, making light of a simple double-double and cola. Sheer consistency has earnt him a regular place in our Top Five.

Likewise Ray Goldstone who has quietly cruised into fourth place at the season’s three-quarter stage.

[Far right] Up the unction

A Broadway Pie moments before destruction.

 
Ed and Nick’s marble-top was lit up by that fab femme formidable, Kitty Lam – food philosopher, film maker and apprentice kitchen samurai.

Poster-boy for Hackney Silver Surfers and Clapton Carers, sprightly Brian Catchpole likes to be safe, be seen, in the low-lighted interior of a pie and mash shop.

[Far right] The Kingsland Clock – another old-timer.

[Above] A lean to starboard . . . Mike dreams of meaty fillings.

[Right] The pieman parks his 4x4. Note his rotated arrangement.

[Right] A lean to port.

The keys to a successful relationship.

Bob Cooke with that iconic photograph.

Thank Bob's good lady wife Anne for getting this place listed – I believe both exterior and interior features will remain. However it’s unlikely you’ll ever see a column display advertising eels, Pepsi, luncheon vouchers and Zing again.

We had the good fortune to learn some oral history as Anne drew our attention to a blow-up of a sepia print. It shows the extended Manze-Cooke family enjoying a seaside trip to Great Yarmouth between the wars – the boom years of their Pie and Mash empire.

The Broadway Market premises date from 1900, but this strand of the Cooke’s dynasty originates from a shop at the corner of Sclater Street and Brick Lane, opened by Robert Cooke the First in 1862. You can read more about this in the Gentle Author’s introduction to Jake Green’s 'Pie & Mash Photo Book 2nd Edition’.

The left window display has a woman’s touch about it. Note the external handles on the sash and the chip in the marble window ledge.

A league of gentlemen outside No.9
 
Once it’s finally closed, Pemberton and Shearsmith can cook up an episode of ‘Inside No.9’ to doom the generations of deli-goers and coffee chuggers to come. Something sinister uniting the themes of recycling, vegans, artisanal gin, single-use plastics, contactless payment and cured meats . . .
 

A taste of things to come; on – and off – Broadway.

We took perhaps our last official walk across London Fields to the Pub on the Park by way of a fond farewell to Cooke’s of Broadway Market. It has surely touched the lives of many hundred thousands.
 
Despite advancing years, Catchpole retains an uncanny knack for making beer disappear quickly. But better bitter in the hand than in the heart.

Wishing Bob and Anne a happy retirement,
 
St@