1975: JELLIED EELS and SMOKED HADDOCK | A Taste of Britain | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

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  • Опубліковано 4 вер 2022
  • Derek Cooper explores some of the traditional dishes of the East End of London - from jellied eels to smoked haddock.
    Derek first visits Joyce's Pie and Mash Shop on Tower Bridge Road, the oldest eel and pie shop in the East End, where the menu - pie, parsley sauce, mashed potatoes and stewed eels - has remained unchanged for decades. Then on to Tubby Isaac's jellied eel stall in Aldgate, where Tubby himself addresses the rumour that eels are an aphrodisiac, and bemoans the rising price of his most famous ingredient. After a quick stop at Billingsgate Fish Market, Derek finally speaks to Eric Ruffell - one of the few remaining East End fishmongers who operates a smoke hole to prepare traditional smoked haddock.
    As urban renewal projects see the old tenements replaced by high-rise flats, are these the last bastions of traditional East End cuisine?
    This clip is from A Taste of Britain, originally broadcast 27 August, 1975.
    You have now entered the BBC Archive, an audiovisual time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
    Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - ua-cam.com/users/BBCArchive?...
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 1,6 тис.

  • @elrondhubbard7059
    @elrondhubbard7059 6 місяців тому +753

    "I reckon eels is the most nutrimental food there is"
    -- Guy who sells eels.

    • @tmarritt
      @tmarritt 4 місяці тому +58

      I mean especially back then when they came from the Thames it contained all you nutrition needs, rubber, coal, sewage, bits of dead people.
      And how we import from china we get exactly the same quality.
      I do like a smoked fish tho.

    • @sasori100x
      @sasori100x 4 місяці тому +4

      when this was filmed they came from newfoundland

    • @wilmh9586
      @wilmh9586 3 місяці тому +4

      @@tmarritt HAHA Well said mate...my sentiment exactly...Thames =rubber coal sewage rats mice and rotten corpses

    • @1421davidm
      @1421davidm 3 місяці тому +1

      Lou Hart, better man than you.

    • @elrondhubbard7059
      @elrondhubbard7059 3 місяці тому +3

      @@1421davidm Geez man, it's a joke.

  • @jogsamson
    @jogsamson Рік тому +1010

    We have no idea how gently he’s holding them pies

    • @rebeccanater
      @rebeccanater Рік тому +63

      Not even a thumbprint

    • @lucascoval828
      @lucascoval828 Рік тому +34

      That Munchies callback!
      😁

    • @xyz-ns7ym
      @xyz-ns7ym 8 місяців тому +4

      Haha

    • @MrGnarlybirdman
      @MrGnarlybirdman 6 місяців тому +3

      Is this the same
      Shop?

    • @ATY676
      @ATY676 6 місяців тому +9

      I'm still trying to figure out which University degree I need to do so I can figure out how gently he's holding them?

  • @horsenuts1831
    @horsenuts1831 Рік тому +335

    I was 10 when this was shot, and I moved to the East End of London some 8 years later. A lot of this is still recognisable to me (at the time the docks were shutting down and I had a job in the a dole office in East London). There were still a few pie m mash shops around but I never developed a taste for it, and I don't car for jellied eels (but I love smoked eels). It is interesting to see the old Billingsgate market. I recall a storty from when they re-developed it that they just couldn't get rid of the smell of fish until they discovered that the cast iron roof supports were full of water that was infused with the smell of a century's worth of fish trading.

    • @eva5601
      @eva5601 Рік тому +6

      I also was 9, or 10 depending on what month of the year this video was filmed. My Birthday is in August.

    • @ssgssbeet4133
      @ssgssbeet4133 Рік тому +20

      Im american but read this in a thick english accent

    • @parlay-music
      @parlay-music Рік тому +4

      @@ssgssbeet4133 cool

    • @ssgssbeet4133
      @ssgssbeet4133 Рік тому +9

      @@parlay-music thanks

    • @briangleason5597
      @briangleason5597 10 місяців тому +3

      Dam good Eating. Eels and pies.

  • @IronMonkeySounds
    @IronMonkeySounds 5 місяців тому +69

    Eels are a bit of a delicacy in Denmark (and very expensive), but we typically eat them either pan fried in butter served with potatoes, or smoked on rye bread with scrambled eggs and chives.

    • @user-et6pj4db9s
      @user-et6pj4db9s 5 місяців тому +27

      That definitely sounds more appetising than cold in jelly

    • @patrick-bu3eq
      @patrick-bu3eq 5 місяців тому +1

      They are very expensive now in the Netherlands too 1kg easily sets you back 50 euros without looking at current prices.. They are here mostly eaten smoked probably now a days as sushi but thats another story. Stewed eels used to be populair amongst the working classes here too.@@user-et6pj4db9s

    • @Jack908r
      @Jack908r 5 місяців тому +9

      I have no idea why the British view cooking as an enemy activity to be completed with every ounce of resistance a human can muster. But the Danish way sounds like its actually appealing.

    • @aclubcalledRAGE
      @aclubcalledRAGE 4 місяці тому

      When did you last eat in in Britain?@@Jack908r

    • @froggin-zp4nr
      @froggin-zp4nr 3 місяці тому +4

      See now that sounds like a simple way to make eels sound palatable. Don't know why people on this island have dreadful cooking skills and equally bad taste buds

  • @andrewferrier3351
    @andrewferrier3351 Рік тому +190

    I checked, in London jellied eels are 26 Australian dollars per kg, in Sydney oysters are 20 dollars per kg, that man was right

    • @TankManHeavy
      @TankManHeavy Рік тому +39

      World's gone crazy, Lobster and Salmon were considered the poor mans food if you go back far enough too, now you pay a premium for it.

    • @petesmith9472
      @petesmith9472 Рік тому +11

      Oysters are not sold by the kilo. They are sold by the dozen at the retail level and by standard sack at the farm gate. The price is determined by the number of oysters in each sack.

    • @jesegyani3575
      @jesegyani3575 Рік тому

      For the Sydney oysters are you referring to American dollars

    • @aurelmatthews4164
      @aurelmatthews4164 Рік тому +1

      Oysters need to be fresh generally, which means keeping them in their shell. Twenty dollars per KG for oysters includes the shell i assume?

    • @ZILOGz80VIDEOS
      @ZILOGz80VIDEOS Рік тому +15

      @@TankManHeavy They've both been massively overfished. They had to cancel the snow crab season in Alaska after an 80%+ drop in population this year and probably will for the next several because their population has been so poorly managed.

  • @--pussypatroll--
    @--pussypatroll-- Рік тому +34

    I could watch gems like this all day long.

  • @nikamota
    @nikamota Рік тому +122

    "..there's nothing elaborate about Mr Rufffles smoke hole.."
    I don't think I'll ever hear anything as charming as that in ...well...ever!

    • @natethebesttt
      @natethebesttt Рік тому +4

      Excuse me

    • @Angelicala
      @Angelicala 4 місяці тому +2

      Love this. 😂 Can imagine Rik mayall saying this in his tone.

    • @UnIimited_Power
      @UnIimited_Power 3 місяці тому +3

      He has to get a chimney sweep up there every month!

    • @Angelicala
      @Angelicala 3 місяці тому +1

      @unlimited_power. Sounds painful 😓

  • @jasonhewlett1283
    @jasonhewlett1283 Рік тому +33

    Great to see old London !

  • @london2resistance
    @london2resistance 3 місяці тому +5

    Living in London I’ve been lucky enough to encounter only on a few occasions to purchase Jellied Eels, I’m glad to say I took every opportunity to keep on walking

  • @johngough2958
    @johngough2958 Рік тому +201

    A lot of the eels came from Ireland. I read (a few decades ago) about some family on the West Coast of Ireland who supplied eels and one of them turned up in London looking for work and only knowing the eel pie seller - he was totally shocked by the mark up in price! Especially as back home they hadn't been paid for the last catch sent over.

    • @fairybuddy-angel2035
      @fairybuddy-angel2035 Рік тому

      Britain and London - screwing our neighbours for years and years.

    • @jessicatorretto159
      @jessicatorretto159 Рік тому +2

      And scrumptious fried in a pan in there own fat and a pinch of pepper. I used to catch them in the streams everywhere and the invasive species of the American yabby. Easy to catch and a great bit of grub.

    • @TheBenzer9
      @TheBenzer9 Рік тому +7

      The guy who originally started selling them back in the late 1800s was from Ireland greystones Co wicklow I think, his great grandson is selling running one of the oldest pie and mash shops in london

    • @AMPProf
      @AMPProf 6 місяців тому

      Yep

    • @astroboirap
      @astroboirap 6 місяців тому +2

      lmao @ nutrimental

  • @dorndy1
    @dorndy1 6 місяців тому +76

    the gentleman that begins speaking at 2:50 (Tubby Isaac) has such a way of speaking, so well articulated, thought out, pragmatic, knowledgeable without a hint of pretension.

    • @AudioJellyfish
      @AudioJellyfish 6 місяців тому +3

      He sounds like the Hitcher from Mighty Boosh

    • @dorndy1
      @dorndy1 5 місяців тому +2

      @@AudioJellyfish Eels up inside ya, finding an entrance where they can.

    • @0PsychosisMedia0
      @0PsychosisMedia0 3 місяці тому

      I thought he is on a current show. Going to markets around the world. The voice and speak pattern is unmistakable.

    • @biggdogg6196
      @biggdogg6196 3 місяці тому

      He has the exact same voice as Arthur Smith the comedian!

    • @0scarisaiah
      @0scarisaiah 3 місяці тому

      @@AudioJellyfish Had the exact same thought. Wondered if they'd based the character off him

  • @jamesphlames7498
    @jamesphlames7498 Рік тому +121

    I used to go to a 'pie and mash' shop after work on a Friday when i got my pay cheque. It was like a moment of glory! True comfort food. It brings a tear to my eye thinking about how wonderful those days were!

    • @SamTheManWhoCanTwice
      @SamTheManWhoCanTwice Рік тому +6

      Middle aged people back then hated those times! everything was new and without tradition!

    • @jamesphlames7498
      @jamesphlames7498 Рік тому +12

      @@SamTheManWhoCanTwice That wasn't my experience of middle aged people at all. I'm not sure where you pulled that from.

    • @judohondaboiii
      @judohondaboiii Рік тому +5

      For me all the days are wonderful. Especially nowadays since I can access my playlist of favourite sex scenes on UA-cam.

    • @SamTheManWhoCanTwice
      @SamTheManWhoCanTwice Рік тому +11

      @@jamesphlames7498 older people always complain about how the world was better when they were younger,
      You can read accounts from the Romans saying 'it was so much better back in my day'

    • @jamesphlames7498
      @jamesphlames7498 Рік тому +6

      @@SamTheManWhoCanTwice It depends on which direction you choose to look.
      My grandparents back then were incredibly happy, as was my boss, the people surrounding me and my dog.

  • @johnferry7778
    @johnferry7778 7 місяців тому +243

    I cried when I watched this and I’m not sure why. I grew up in London in the sixties and these are the kinds of faces I remember from my childhood.

    • @Surreptitious_1
      @Surreptitious_1 7 місяців тому

      Development and progress is great but we've lost our culture and community. All sold off, sold out and replaced by consumerism, giving rise to China and global communism.

    • @sugarfish6722
      @sugarfish6722 6 місяців тому +75

      ​@@spunkychops7484getting *ucked is different from "moving on"

    • @BBCBOY919
      @BBCBOY919 6 місяців тому

      i love getting uck@@sugarfish6722

    • @garyk1334
      @garyk1334 6 місяців тому

      ​@@sugarfish6722Spinkychops is clueless

    • @newbleppmore7855
      @newbleppmore7855 6 місяців тому +103

      Native population wiped out in London

  • @YourContentSucks.
    @YourContentSucks. 6 місяців тому +37

    1975: talking about The War like it was yesterday.
    2023: still talking about The War like it was yesterday.

    • @mypointofview1111
      @mypointofview1111 Місяць тому +1

      Except these days everyone under the age of 50 thinks it was all about food shortages. They cannot comprehend the level of physical devastation that went on across the world

    • @AdamBechtol
      @AdamBechtol Місяць тому

      :p

  • @the_terrorizer
    @the_terrorizer Рік тому +89

    As an American, I am disgusted by the thought of jellied eels yet also terribly intrigued. Wonderfully shot documentary

    • @Jack-bx3ow
      @Jack-bx3ow Рік тому +14

      And how about that bright green liquid?

    • @the_terrorizer
      @the_terrorizer Рік тому +19

      @@Jack-bx3ow Looks like something from a cartoon hahaha. Why does it have to be bright green? What does it taste like?? We may never know

    • @romulus_
      @romulus_ Рік тому +19

      @@the_terrorizer it's made from parsley. i'm american, would give it all a try. there's a reason why it was popular.

    • @hellfirepictures
      @hellfirepictures 8 місяців тому +5

      @@Jack-bx3ow It's literally chopped parsley, flour, and water. Nothing more.

    • @hellfirepictures
      @hellfirepictures 8 місяців тому +2

      @@the_terrorizer It's literally chopped parsley, flour, and water. Nothing more. It tastes like parsley. Try making it - I don't personally rate it but my family have always loved the stuff - in true East-London fashion.

  • @sandro9237
    @sandro9237 Рік тому +615

    Their cuisine and the face of their women made the british the best sailor in the world

  • @britturk123
    @britturk123 Рік тому +48

    I love going back in time it feels like I am in a time machine, a lovely capture of these wonderful decent honest folk.

  • @traceya9615
    @traceya9615 Рік тому +59

    Nice to see Derek Cooper. His voice is very evocative for me of 70s' tv and radio reports.

  • @stephenord3403
    @stephenord3403 Рік тому +51

    Such wonderful characters, sadly gone now 😢

    • @phillpidgeon8961
      @phillpidgeon8961 6 місяців тому +2

      hearing a east end say bob or 2. Makes me just want to go see my dad and have a chat

    • @holdingtonfarley4444
      @holdingtonfarley4444 6 днів тому

      Not really, I think we've outgrown them

    • @user-gs7iw6kl7o
      @user-gs7iw6kl7o 6 днів тому

      @@holdingtonfarley4444 londonstan is dirty

  • @kidkieran77
    @kidkieran77 Рік тому +236

    What I find fascinating, being a Londoner born in the early 90s, is just how central 'East' was even up until the 1970s.

    • @darkarts59
      @darkarts59 Рік тому

      Quite.

    • @pigglewiggle175
      @pigglewiggle175 Рік тому +1

      OK kid.

    • @grimjim1599
      @grimjim1599 Рік тому +77

      It's more like the middle east these days

    • @acropolisnow9466
      @acropolisnow9466 Рік тому +65

      @@grimjim1599 It's disgraceful what has been done to the city and this country. The same has happened all across Europe.

    • @Miniver765
      @Miniver765 Рік тому

      @@acropolisnow9466 Yes. It's all about destroying historically wyte, krish/chun countries throughout Europe.

  • @johnbarry1965
    @johnbarry1965 6 місяців тому +28

    Up here in Wales, I treat myself quite often to a proper East End tea of Pie,mash and liquor with white pepper and chilli vinegar. It's all gravy up here!!

    • @Initium1000
      @Initium1000 Місяць тому

      Your cuisine is horrible. Absolutely horrible

    • @ethanp5215
      @ethanp5215 14 днів тому

      Do you make your own liquor?

    • @johnbarry1965
      @johnbarry1965 14 днів тому

      @@ethanp5215 Sure do!!

  • @adolphsanchez1429
    @adolphsanchez1429 Рік тому +59

    "Pie, parsley sauce, and jellied eels." It doesn't get more British than that.

    • @chetmanley1885
      @chetmanley1885 6 місяців тому

      Not really, you only find it in a pretty small area.
      Ask someone in the north of Essex about pie and mash and they won't have a clue.

    • @MaSoNGaMeR115
      @MaSoNGaMeR115 6 місяців тому +1

      @@chetmanley1885 completely untrue, actual londoners live all over essex now, it's one of the only places you'll find genuine london culture

    • @noramartin96
      @noramartin96 4 місяці тому

      The parsley sauce was called 'Liquor' .To me it looks ghastly but millions loved and still love it

    • @apebass2215
      @apebass2215 3 місяці тому

      ​@@simonsimon325 jellied eels are traditional in areas outside of London, particularly Kent and Essex. Coastal areas in the west of Britain also sell jellied eels as they're typically imported from Ireland.

    • @user-og2wt3le4j
      @user-og2wt3le4j Місяць тому

      Today they call the parsley sauce "Liquor."

  • @paulohlsen3332
    @paulohlsen3332 Рік тому +43

    My great grandparents ran an eel and pie shop, great documentary

  • @SGProductions87
    @SGProductions87 Рік тому +69

    Makes me think of being a kid. My parents used to take me down to Whitstable back in those days and we'd come back with a hoard of shellfish, mainly cockles, muscles and whelks. Watching this made me realise what that whole thing was all about. It was cultural, but at the time it was just a thing that happened that I enjoyed but didn't really understand. Of course now, I never experience these things, but this made me miss it and get a touch teary-eyed.

    • @JulieWallis1963
      @JulieWallis1963 Рік тому +2

      Whitstable eh? Wow, so cockney 🥴
      Sorry, but, WTAF has whitstable cockles and a day trip got to do with pie n mash and jellied eels?

    • @hellfirepictures
      @hellfirepictures 8 місяців тому +9

      @@JulieWallis1963 Because Whitstable was a standard day trip for South and East-end Londoners. Because the Whitstable cockles were sold in London on the same stalls that the Eels were sold on. Because people would often have Eels and Cockles or Whelks or Mussels. Because the day trips often resulted in a stop-off to get Eels at the end of the day.
      And because yes, it is a VERY Cockney lifestyle. These trips by Eastenders out of London to the coastal fishing villages of the southeast, and these combinations of foods, are uniquely Cockney London.
      Soditch the 'WTAF' attitude and be educated.

  • @almiles6922
    @almiles6922 Рік тому +57

    Sort of wish times were still like this

  • @jomatuazon
    @jomatuazon Рік тому +61

    Love how dapper that seafood/jellied eels vendor looks!

    • @noramartin96
      @noramartin96 4 місяці тому +1

      Yes Tubby Isaacs was very famous at his stall in Aldgate

  • @BVargas78
    @BVargas78 5 місяців тому +16

    I remember that Britain from when i was a kid. It was still around in the early to mid 80's. It's funny how much things changed especially over the 90s.

  • @stephenguppy7882
    @stephenguppy7882 5 місяців тому +3

    I used to have smoked haddock with crusty bread and butter for tea at Grandma's house every Friday when I was a kid. Ahh, memories.

  • @dawnlewis4891
    @dawnlewis4891 4 місяці тому +8

    Still go for a pie and mash...Selkirk Road, Tooting. Just introduced it to my eight month old great nephew, he loves a bit of mash and liquor 😂

  • @guymorris6596
    @guymorris6596 Рік тому +23

    I'll pass on eating eels because I'm watching this for the history aspect. Now the pie, parsley sauce and mashed potatoes sound good.

  • @stephenscales353
    @stephenscales353 Рік тому +32

    Surely some Hoxton/Shoreditch hipsters can revive jellied eels and no doubt charge £20 a portion.

    • @Hellomynameis93
      @Hellomynameis93 Рік тому +1

      And? That's what capitalism is all about. If someone is willing to pay for it then charge it.

    • @tonypine3434
      @tonypine3434 6 місяців тому

      You can get jellied eels in the poppies off commercial street

    • @davefave4351
      @davefave4351 3 місяці тому

      Served on a Redland 49 roofing tile...

    • @TheFanatical1
      @TheFanatical1 2 місяці тому +1

      You'd have to, as jellied eel is critically endangered.

    • @georgerobartes2008
      @georgerobartes2008 2 місяці тому

      Try Cookes in Hoxton St , been there for ever .

  • @AN-ed8qq
    @AN-ed8qq Рік тому +158

    What a beautiful and nostalgic documentary piece. I love eel and pie shops. I understand that eels are an acquired taste. Personally I love them, but I know lots of people who really don't.

    • @Zooumberg
      @Zooumberg Рік тому +2

      I had them once in London and hated them. I then tried again in Blackpool and hated them. However, I believe I was eating them incorrectly, crunching the bones isn't the done thing. If I'm ever away from Newcastle again, I'll give them another chance.

    • @hetrodoxly1203
      @hetrodoxly1203 Рік тому +10

      @@Zooumberg No don't crunch the bones, they're sharp, pick the meat off the bones as if eating a drumstick, like in the film they're best with vinegar and pepper.

    • @Zooumberg
      @Zooumberg Рік тому +3

      @@hetrodoxly1203 I tell you what I do like. Whelks. It's like seafood chewing gum. With loads of vinegar and pepper. There's not much seafood I don't like. I will try eels again sometime.

    • @hetrodoxly1203
      @hetrodoxly1203 Рік тому +2

      @@Zooumberg I also love whelks.

    • @Zooumberg
      @Zooumberg Рік тому +2

      @@hetrodoxly1203 whelks, mussels, cockles, there's not much seafood I don't like. Shame it's so expensive these days.

  • @paul9511
    @paul9511 Рік тому +5

    Good day to all my brothers and sisters in the UK 🇦🇺🌹🙏.

  • @vinn3327
    @vinn3327 Рік тому +5

    Jellied eel n mash, was a part of my childhood I will never forget YUM

  • @iandeare1
    @iandeare1 Рік тому +18

    My father was a proppa East end Cockney born in Shadwell, 1921. Eventually ended up in Arbroath; where we do smoked haddock very slightly differently: the world famous "Arbroath Smokie"
    (the style described in the clip would generally be called Yellow Fish locally)

    • @rickyspanish9002
      @rickyspanish9002 2 місяці тому

      Who did he go to France with?

    • @iandeare1
      @iandeare1 2 місяці тому

      ​@@rickyspanish9002I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to; but oddly my paternal Great Grandfather painted chapel ceiling frescoes in France, and added an acute accent, altering the spelling to Dearé, as is the custom in Europe, they would've pronounced the final e, which is silent in English.
      The name is not unique, but unusual, and has been traced back to the I6th C.

    • @rickyspanish9002
      @rickyspanish9002 2 місяці тому

      @@iandeare1 what i mean is most British men born in 1921 got a free trip to France right around 1940

    • @iandeare1
      @iandeare1 2 місяці тому

      @@rickyspanish9002 : nope my father went to India and North Africa as, RAF Aircrew transport Command AG/Sigs, and later, in 1943 Coastal Command, U-boat patrol in Scotland

    • @rickyspanish9002
      @rickyspanish9002 2 місяці тому

      @@iandeare1 thats awesome!

  • @chrisrovai9625
    @chrisrovai9625 8 місяців тому +12

    The last man is right...nothing can beat the divine delicious simplicity of smoked haddock and buttered bread

    • @georgemorley1029
      @georgemorley1029 7 місяців тому +1

      Craster kipper and the oil on a bit of toast for me.

    • @astrovarius543
      @astrovarius543 6 місяців тому +1

      How can you say that with all the rich diversity pouring into your country.
      Just think of the street slop you're missing out on.

  • @davidbull7210
    @davidbull7210 Рік тому +7

    Love how he pronounced Aldgate.

  • @jcs3330
    @jcs3330 Рік тому +12

    I remember my beloved late Mother taking me into the two pie & mash shops in Deptford high street in the early seventies (I think one was called Goddards and the other Manzies or something similar, with sawdust covering the floors) when I was a young child.
    She would order the jellied eels for herself (I refused to eat them!) and pie & mash for me. I also remember when Fish & Chips came with a serving of 'crispy bits' on the side and served in old newspaper. (All probably stopped by the FSA and Health and Safety brigade!). What great days they were.

    • @elliotvernon7971
      @elliotvernon7971 7 місяців тому +4

      A J Goddard had to shut down, but Manzes is still on Deptford High Street.

    • @pnelancslad9771
      @pnelancslad9771 3 місяці тому

      Been to Goddards at Greenwich in december had my first pie and mash here absolutley superb

  • @blackcitroenlove
    @blackcitroenlove Рік тому +28

    Smoked fish is a Cherokee staple. We smoke it slowly over hickory, so good. The man doing the smoking does it pretty much the same way we do, which is neat to see.

  • @carlkamuti
    @carlkamuti Рік тому +12

    Jimmy eats that exact meal in Quadrophenia, I've always wondered what that florescent sauce was.

  • @rjy8960
    @rjy8960 Рік тому +46

    This is a thing of beauty. I assume that this was taken from 35mm film? Brilliant job! Watching this was almost like being there. Thanks!

    • @elijahmodnar1
      @elijahmodnar1 Рік тому +3

      16mm or super16mm

    • @jannalyzer3944
      @jannalyzer3944 Рік тому +2

      We might have already been here. Swimming with our dad's sack

  • @hetrodoxly1203
    @hetrodoxly1203 Рік тому +51

    It was very similar in Birmingham, there was the huge old Smithfield fish market and the market stalls in the bull ring, you can still get a small bowel of jelled eels with a chunk of bread with vinegar and pepper, or a plate of welks to eat at one of the shellfish stalls, the old Smithfield market was knocked down in the 1970s but a new one was built.

    • @rjy8960
      @rjy8960 Рік тому +3

      I remember going to the Birmingham fish market as a young child in the 70's and eating whelks standing up!

    • @croonyerzoonyer
      @croonyerzoonyer Рік тому +4

      A small ‘bowel’? Yuck! Surely you mean BOWL.

    • @hetrodoxly1203
      @hetrodoxly1203 Рік тому +12

      @@croonyerzoonyer Sorry if you couldn't see it was an obvious typo.

    • @AudioJellyfish
      @AudioJellyfish 6 місяців тому

      I thought it was some kind of old medical thing. "Got a problem with your Derby Kell? you need a jellied eel in your bowel, fix you right up".@@hetrodoxly1203

  • @Mark-0O
    @Mark-0O 5 місяців тому +2

    I live beside Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland and the eels here were sent to Billingsgate market in London and also to Amsterdam.

  • @gavinmillar7519
    @gavinmillar7519 Рік тому +4

    What a brilliant little excerpt. Lovely.

  • @simonlunt353
    @simonlunt353 Рік тому +19

    A lot of the old ways are gone now so sad 😞

  • @ChorizoCentauri
    @ChorizoCentauri 5 місяців тому +35

    The London everyone complained about is the London most of us long for today.
    London was tough, raw, and unique. It had a charm of authenticity. I truly abhor today's Disneylandesque-London.

    • @tmarritt
      @tmarritt 4 місяці тому +1

      You are looking at the wrong parts of londong, there is a lot of what you are looking for in London, it's just not where it used to be.

    • @apebass2215
      @apebass2215 3 місяці тому +3

      ​@@tmarritt gentrification has pushed out working class communities and traditions, this has been reported for years.

    • @tmarritt
      @tmarritt 3 місяці тому

      that's just the push and pull of London it's always happened always will happen and just changes. Idiot nimbys, old cunts complaining and young hipsters that don't realise they are the ones doing it.
      Just the natural cycle of any city.
      FFS my family used to live 12 in a room in a peasbody building in Soho in my granddad's day, think we should go back to that?
      Total rosy eyed bollocks.

    • @petermatthews2180
      @petermatthews2180 2 місяці тому +6

      Because there are hardly any native people born and bred in London anymore

    • @kraftyfrog
      @kraftyfrog 2 місяці тому

      ​@@petermatthews2180 Exactly. Modern London is "Disneylandesque" only in that it's a chaotic, cultureless blob punctuated by violence perpetrated by imported Third Worlders.

  • @bushwhackeddos.2703
    @bushwhackeddos.2703 6 місяців тому +1

    Been frequenting the same pie shop for 50 years, since my mother first took me at around 6 months old.

  • @1DoctorMoo
    @1DoctorMoo Рік тому

    Thank you for posting this.

  • @Playsinvain
    @Playsinvain Рік тому +18

    Stunning and fascinating. It’s like from an alien planet

  • @tazzatamania
    @tazzatamania Рік тому +10

    Lovely this. From Liverpool so only ever been for pie and mash once, very tasty.

  • @davidlister370
    @davidlister370 Рік тому +66

    That young lad at 1:01 looks absolutely fuming to be served eels and parsley sauce. Can't say I blame him!

    • @purefoldnz3070
      @purefoldnz3070 Рік тому +1

      rip young lad.

    • @Heaven-dy9lj
      @Heaven-dy9lj Рік тому +5

      It's Liquor not Parsley Sauce.

    • @blokeabouttown2490
      @blokeabouttown2490 Рік тому +5

      @@purefoldnz3070 He's probably still alive, he'd be in his late 60s by now.

    • @purefoldnz3070
      @purefoldnz3070 Рік тому +7

      @@blokeabouttown2490 depends on how much eels he had.

    • @ericmckinley7985
      @ericmckinley7985 Рік тому +2

      @@Heaven-dy9lj can you explain the difference for an American? Are they not both essentially a bechamel with parsley?

  • @davewalker7126
    @davewalker7126 Рік тому +1143

    'neutrimental' food indeed

  • @CorvoFG
    @CorvoFG Рік тому +3

    Used to frequent the one that still exists in Peckham. Pie, mash and liquor, I passed on the eels.

  • @WolfDaddy420
    @WolfDaddy420 6 місяців тому +28

    I am a 59 year old Italian-American from New Jersey and pie n mash with stewed or jellied eels on the side looks like good enough food to me. I used to catch eels in the bay while standing on the dock during summers down the shore in Point Pleasant back in the 70's. Then my father would gut them and remove the bones and my Sicilian grandmother would flour and fry them in olive oil served with spaghetti on the side therefore I grew up eating them and I still love 'em. Other than that nutrimental is a word whether anyone's pretentious ass likes it or not, folks✌🏼

    • @user-og2wt3le4j
      @user-og2wt3le4j Місяць тому +1

      Sounds like a good Italian American meal to me. I love eel and spaghetti.

  • @adrinathegreat3095
    @adrinathegreat3095 4 місяці тому +4

    That little pot of jellied eels was 30p that's equal to £3.15 in today's money, I can remember a portion of chips costing 10p in 1975.

    • @user-og2wt3le4j
      @user-og2wt3le4j Місяць тому

      Same with fish and chips. They were cheaper in the mid-70s.

  • @Low-Key123
    @Low-Key123 28 днів тому +5

    Back when London still had Londoners.

    • @christianjesse8980
      @christianjesse8980 20 днів тому +2

      Tell me you're racist without telling me

    • @Low-Key123
      @Low-Key123 20 днів тому +3

      @@christianjesse8980 Tell me you're an Anglophobe without telling me.

    • @XAVR_
      @XAVR_ 14 днів тому +1

      ​@@Low-Key123 I'm afraid of how bigoted and intolerant some people in England are. If that makes me an anglophobe...

    • @abbas-aliibnmohammadal-nam929
      @abbas-aliibnmohammadal-nam929 9 днів тому

      ​@@christianjesse8980they act like pigs and feral animals
      How could you like them at all? It's not based on pure ignorance it's a counter reaction!!!

  • @richardmullins1883
    @richardmullins1883 Рік тому +7

    I fkn love jellied eel and smoked haddock, pie n mash w mushy peas. Omg I miss home

  • @dannyward673
    @dannyward673 Рік тому +10

    It’s an expensive treat pie & mash these days. I go Leytonstone or Canning Town if I fancy it. The grub was introduced to me by my nan & grandad who were born and raised eastenders, salt of the earth people.

  • @5argetech56
    @5argetech56 6 місяців тому +1

    Gives me the feeling of "Only Fools and Horses". Loved that series.

  • @spidyman8853
    @spidyman8853 Рік тому +14

    In the days before Mac Ds

  • @BadYossa
    @BadYossa Рік тому +43

    The parsley sauce (liquor) is an acquired taste. Tried it a few times at the old place in Chapel Street market in Islington back the early '80's. It was served like a portion of soup. I was 17, so maybe my taste buds weren't geared up for it back then.

    • @jakubbarton1770
      @jakubbarton1770 Рік тому +6

      what does it taste like? I just imagined it being a parsley flavored gravy

    • @BadYossa
      @BadYossa Рік тому +11

      @@jakubbarton1770 it has a strong vinegar vibe and all the parsley that ever existed in it. I'm a chef and it's too much for my tastes!

    • @elwolf8536
      @elwolf8536 Рік тому +1

      More like flour liquer with a hint of parsley

    • @aleccastro4761
      @aleccastro4761 Рік тому +10

      been trying for 30+ years still haven't acquired the taste of it

    • @chetmanley1885
      @chetmanley1885 6 місяців тому +4

      I was weaned on it, my mum says it's the first solid food I ate (slightly dubious claim) but I've eaten it since I was little.
      Not sure it's an acquired taste, you like it or you don't.

  • @EndChineseGenocide
    @EndChineseGenocide 6 місяців тому +3

    Its like another world

  • @Greg-fl4cb
    @Greg-fl4cb Рік тому +1

    Lovely documentary!

  • @PaulWalshp-wx4in
    @PaulWalshp-wx4in 4 місяці тому +3

    FEKKIN BEAUTIFUL 👌👌

  • @Twilight-cl3zc
    @Twilight-cl3zc Рік тому +7

    Bless him... he's so foodimentally good for his beloved London 🙏✌️❤️

    • @protectwhatisours6895
      @protectwhatisours6895 4 місяці тому

      I need to try Pie and Mash from one of these old places, if they’re still about.

  • @naguerea
    @naguerea 2 місяці тому

    What an absolute treat it has been to watch this vid. As a soldier I served lots with east Londoners and pie and mash is what they loved., I even ent there to try it for myself.

  • @Justino_de_Paula
    @Justino_de_Paula 6 місяців тому +5

    My Dad was a fish merchant in Bristol, I remember often going with him to the Old Billingsgate in his lorry when I was on school holidays. I'm so glad I got to see it. It's a different world now. A poorer world.

    • @Klonkus
      @Klonkus 6 місяців тому

      Your generation is the reason everything is so ruined now. Absolutely venomous mentality that comes from you people, you'll piss and burn everything away so the next generation doesn't even have a pot to piss in.

  • @newspaperface
    @newspaperface Рік тому +9

    M Manze pie and eel shop on tower bridge road still looks like that Joyce's place from the start. Cheap too. If you dont like eels their pies are top drawer. Pay a visit if your in the area.

    • @grahamross6397
      @grahamross6397 Рік тому

      Was going to post similar.
      Thought I recognised the place in the first few minutes of this film.
      Hasn't changed much.
      Ate there last week.

    • @chetmanley1885
      @chetmanley1885 6 місяців тому

      I've only been to the Walthamstow one, and yeah that hasn't changed, they still chuck sawdust on the floor.

  • @Drivingp
    @Drivingp Рік тому +3

    These are living history 👍

  • @johnboy1042
    @johnboy1042 Рік тому +1

    Still love my pie mash and liquor eels even today as a child I use to go harringtons in Tooting Broadway which is still going today

  • @ctcurry1777
    @ctcurry1777 Рік тому +16

    The only pie and liquor shop I know that's left in London is in Shepherds Bush...and the last time I went there was 20 years ago. I expect some poncy restaurants do it at a ridiculous price.

    • @festavision
      @festavision Рік тому +9

      Their's still a few left in London, my local called 'Cockneys' still going strong but soon one day unfortunately we can see they'll be a thing of the past.

    • @annother3350
      @annother3350 Рік тому +2

      @@festavision no, the tourists love the pie and mash. Its a good business opportunity

    • @MrMachiavelli
      @MrMachiavelli Рік тому +5

      There's one in Peckham

    • @djpeekay25
      @djpeekay25 Рік тому +1

      It closed down a few years ago. We have 2 pie and mash shops in Ruislip

    • @tonypine3434
      @tonypine3434 6 місяців тому

      There's Cockneys on Portobello Road

  • @donaldpyper4627
    @donaldpyper4627 Рік тому +3

    Wow amazing to think this isn’t that old - yet these people and thier food etc have been completely replaced now.

  • @darkarts59
    @darkarts59 Рік тому +1

    Nutrimental - Love that word.

  • @FrithonaHrududu02127
    @FrithonaHrududu02127 3 місяці тому +1

    Im a 48 year old American yet somehow i feel nostalgic for this. Like I actually had to remind myself that i have no real nostalgia for this. But i wish i did.

  • @jakedeane5304
    @jakedeane5304 Рік тому +39

    Hard pressed to find real east Enders nowadays

  • @rhythmjones
    @rhythmjones Рік тому +6

    The video: People in 1975 complaining about how life was better before.
    The comments: People in 2020 complaining that life was better in the video.

  • @williamsmiler184
    @williamsmiler184 Рік тому

    Fascinating!

  • @EBOWARRIOR
    @EBOWARRIOR 7 місяців тому +9

    Tried Jellied eels once and could not stomach it, Smoked eels however are amazing but I am surprised more places don't sell it.

    • @peterkiedron8949
      @peterkiedron8949 6 місяців тому

      Smoked eels are delicacy. Still recognized as such in Scandinavia and Central Europe.

  • @jaywalker3087
    @jaywalker3087 Рік тому +3

    I remember eating cockles at Tubby's.
    I miss those days.

  • @stevenikitas8170
    @stevenikitas8170 Рік тому

    Love that old cash register... I remember them well from my youth.

  • @UnIimited_Power
    @UnIimited_Power 3 місяці тому +2

    Mmm neon green liquor and _meat_ pies.

  • @cerneuffington2656
    @cerneuffington2656 Рік тому +17

    I love Smoked Haddock, but i'll give the rest of that muck a wide berth. My dad used to eat cockles and other stuff from seafood stalls, some of it had sand in 🤢

    • @maxpayneful4328
      @maxpayneful4328 Рік тому +2

      No crab, lobster, bass, prawns, cod, crawfish?
      All of these are must try’s

    • @poopbutt6241
      @poopbutt6241 Рік тому

      @@maxpayneful4328 go to Louisiana for that

    • @kahyui2486
      @kahyui2486 Рік тому

      That's strange cos smoked haddock Is one of the stinkiest fishes. It makes the whole house stink like a brothel

    • @cerneuffington2656
      @cerneuffington2656 Рік тому +2

      @@kahyui2486 😂

  • @AllHopeIsLost1134
    @AllHopeIsLost1134 28 днів тому +4

    Im curious what these people would think of what became of their homeland.

  • @anonosaurus4517
    @anonosaurus4517 6 місяців тому +2

    The England that was. I would loved to have experienced it.

  • @emorelix
    @emorelix 6 місяців тому +1

    Can we take a moment to look at the camera work at 2:13. Can you imagine the camera that some dude had to manipulate, whilst on the ground that low?

  • @josephking1947
    @josephking1947 Рік тому +5

    I used to frequent that place as I worked in the area for 20 odd years, great memories

  • @sophrapsune
    @sophrapsune Рік тому +4

    This is absolute gold.

  • @businessgoose4883
    @businessgoose4883 6 місяців тому +1

    I just checked on Google maps, this shop is still there 🥳

  • @mxes5938
    @mxes5938 28 днів тому +2

    n̶u̶t̶r̶i̶t̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ *nutrimental*

  • @geoffjoffy
    @geoffjoffy Рік тому +3

    I remember those days. I was 13.

    • @RuthvenMurgatroyd
      @RuthvenMurgatroyd 4 місяці тому

      At the risk of sounding rude, your profile picture looks nowhere near 62 and is clearly the product of an AI.

  • @johnwalton2019
    @johnwalton2019 Рік тому +40

    1970s film showing how London was changing from the old days. 01:39 Lou Hart, Old Billingsgate eel and shellfish specialist for many year. My Dad portered for Lou in the late 1960s and early 1970s at the old market which would have been in it final days when this film was taken. In the pan shot of the market in the film you can see the old buildings starting to make way for new offices. Market finally moved to Poplar in January 1982 after almost a 1,000 years of trading in it's City of London location. I also fear Tubby Isaacs' (not his real name in this film, think it was Solly?), prediction that we will always east jellied eels isn't correct - London is now ironically seeing more pie shops close and move out to Essex, Herts and the Home Counties as more and more old Londoners see out there days...not many kids in those places eating jellied eels though!

    • @1421davidm
      @1421davidm Рік тому

      Hi mate, did your dad know Jack McCarthy , my dad ?

  • @allouttabubblegum1984
    @allouttabubblegum1984 6 місяців тому +1

    The skin of the haddock is the best tasting fish skin I've ever had in my life!

  • @paulhemingway9149
    @paulhemingway9149 4 місяці тому +3

    Pie mash and green gravy.

    • @1421davidm
      @1421davidm 3 місяці тому

      Green as Saint Patricks arse, as my mum used to say.

  • @larrynintendo6838
    @larrynintendo6838 Рік тому +13

    I HOPE one day i can try this for myself! Always been fascinated by it!

    • @shaunwild8797
      @shaunwild8797 Рік тому +2

      I thought that and one day I had the chance to try them in Cromer. Never again. lol.

    • @larrynintendo6838
      @larrynintendo6838 Рік тому +1

      @@shaunwild8797 Hahaha that is hilarious! I have very odd taste in food so I am hoping I love it.

    • @shaunwild8797
      @shaunwild8797 Рік тому +1

      @@larrynintendo6838 I'm not a fussy eater and will try anything. I even ate Surstromming once but will never ever try jellied eels again.

    • @H4CK61
      @H4CK61 Рік тому +1

      @@larrynintendo6838 Try stewed first mate then jellied you wont be dissapointed.

    • @larrynintendo6838
      @larrynintendo6838 Рік тому

      @@H4CK61 Thanks for the tip! Eel just seems really delicious!

  • @chrissyboy2401
    @chrissyboy2401 Місяць тому

    I'm from North London and worked in East London,Dalston in the 90's,on my lunch break I walked up Dalston High Rd and used to get a quick pie from the pie shop for my lunch and they had a metal container on the outside window with live eels in it and they'd cut them up fresh if you ordered them and served with jelly,never had them but the pies were delicious and a great London tradition.

  • @tomstarwalker
    @tomstarwalker 6 місяців тому +2

    Eel is a priced fish here in Finland. It's a five star meal.

  • @sdg2185
    @sdg2185 7 місяців тому +20

    It's absolutely tragic seeing what modern London has been reduced to 😢

    • @bibo2445
      @bibo2445 6 місяців тому +4

      What's bad about it? That you have food that doesn't look like someone's vomit? Or that it doesn't look like dresden after the bombs fell?

    • @MaSoNGaMeR115
      @MaSoNGaMeR115 6 місяців тому

      @@bibo2445 not quite worht third world crime rates for rape and murder brought by third world people

    • @user-og2wt3le4j
      @user-og2wt3le4j Місяць тому +2

      Overpriced Vegan restaurants and Indian food.

    • @christianjesse8980
      @christianjesse8980 20 днів тому

      ⁠just a good old dogwhistle brother

  • @mhicnanolc
    @mhicnanolc Рік тому +24

    Not sure about eels, but smoked haddock is still widely enjoyed in Atlantic Canada. It’s delicious!

    • @emilydavison2053
      @emilydavison2053 Рік тому +5

      Traditional in kedgeree - a British/Indian dish.

    • @AMPProf
      @AMPProf 6 місяців тому

      so is clam juice...surprised eel is not in the poutine

    • @jonathanlandau-litewski7405
      @jonathanlandau-litewski7405 4 місяці тому

      @@emilydavison2053 kedegree! Now that's something I have not had in years! Thank you for reminding me of it, it's gorgeous. I must now search my city for somewhere that sells it 😊

  • @Pitmirk_
    @Pitmirk_ 13 днів тому

    London struggled on, there were still gems like this, but in the last ten years has plummeted and in the last 3 plunged

  • @davidmalone2580
    @davidmalone2580 Рік тому

    Excellent 👌