Moulsham Street in Chelmsford is a typical English high street, with barbers, salons, pubs and no shortage of culinary options: a Chinese, Indian, chippy and Italian, kebab shops and greasy spoons. But there’s one spot you wouldn’t find in most of the country – the pie and mash shop.
F Cooke has all the trappings of a traditional pie and mash shop: white -tiled walls, pictures of celebrities, marble tables and wooden benches. It opened in 2020, becoming the first in the city, according to director Jordan Lassman. There are now two. Robins, which has six shops across east London and Essex, soon joined it in 2021. They are part of a burgeoning scene in Essex, which according to Lassman, is “the new home of pie and mash”.
