They are meeting places, communities in themselves, enclaves where people treat each other like real people, run by third and fourth-generation families. The three families that run most shops are the Cookes, the Manzes and the Kellys. Look at the walls, often decorated with intricate blue, white and green tiles, ornate mirrors and photos, maybe of famous customers. Hot pies, a sustenance food, reasonably priced have been a London tradition since Victorian times when they were sold on the streets by piemen. Fish pies were stuffed with eels, but with fish becoming scare during the Second World War minced meat became the standard filling.
Most shops serve boiled eels as a side dish, they taste a little like pickled herring.