A cold, wet working day calls for a comforting lunch. This Leather Lane Market walk, first published on 14 January 2015, begins among the jewellers of Hatton Garden and ends with a Pieminister Shamrock pie: beef steak and Irish stout, boxed up to take away.
From the Roberts London archive: this article records the 2015 visit. Shops, menus and market arrangements described here belong to that film.
From Hatton Garden to Leather Lane
I was working in Hatton Garden, surrounded by the jewellery shops that give the street its character. The film looks beyond those retail windows too. Above, below and behind them were workshops and small businesses, with craftspeople making, repairing and supplying services to jewellers.
Leather Lane runs parallel to Hatton Garden. The walk turns away from the jewellery trade towards a different sort of working London street: shops, cafés and market stalls, with lunch at the centre of the day.
Leather Lane Market at lunchtime in 2015
In the original commentary I describe a weekday market with a mixture of regular and casual traders. Clothing, towels, socks, flowers, fruit and vegetables sat alongside street food. The camera catches striped awnings, rails of clothes and shoppers passing between the stalls and permanent shopfronts.
The surrounding offices and shops shaped the market’s rhythm. Lunchtime was the busy period I knew from working nearby. I also remember how quiet the area had felt at weekends when I first started there, and how it seemed to be growing busier as the food improved. Those are observations from this particular period, rather than a timetable for a visit today.
A cold day for a Pieminister pie
I had walked past Pieminister many times, noticing both the shop and its small stall outside. The weather finally supplied the excuse to go in. The black frontage and counter full of golden pies made a promising stop on the market walk.
The pie and mash being served looked appealing, with what I thought were sensible lunchtime portions. Afternoon meetings meant I could not settle in for that meal, however. I bought a pie to go, leaving a sit-down visit for another day.
Trying the Shamrock steak and stout pie
My choice was the Shamrock, described in the film as tender beef steak and Irish stout. I explain that Pieminister made its pies in Bristol and used two pastries: a suet lid and an all-butter shortcrust base. Those details are part of the original 2015 account of the pie I bought.
The shop and fillings did not remind me of an old-fashioned London pie shop. The comparison that came to mind was a good Cornish pasty shop translated into pies for London. It was my way of describing the feel of the place, rather than a claim about the company’s origins.
Once opened, the pie delivered on the most basic requirement: plenty of filling. I was pleased to find actual steak rather than a hollow space with a little gravy. The close-up shows the dark filling beneath the pastry, and my verdict was enthusiastic about both.
The combination of lid and base stood out as much as the filling. It turned a quick takeaway lunch into the highlight of the outing, and made me keen to return for the full pie-and-mash experience I had seen being served.
Watch the original Leather Lane film
The short film brings together Hatton Garden, the market stalls and the takeaway pie, preserving a small slice of a January working day in London.
