As the clouds of war gathered across Europe in the last week of February 2022, the notion of a castle of pie and mash, providing nourishment and sanctuary in an age of turbulence and uncertainty, seemed more than ever necessary. So it was that a modest band of four assembled on those notional ramparts at Royal College Street in search of bright lights, warm stooge and oven heat.

A handwritten affidavit forestalled any request for eels – is it a sign of more enduring shortage of the longed-for lengths of fish flesh? Undeterred, the asylum seekers arrayed themselves at the familiar red-trimmed formica eating pods with their combination platters, requisite cutlery and napkins.

Mike Goldwater enjoyed his first airing of 2022, which served as a celebratory marker for reaching the advanced age of 32.

The prospect on my side of the table.

Eating Pod B was made more merry by the insertion of a regular customer of Castle’s, Barbara, native of the Bonny Street area since the era of pounds, shilling and pence. A neighbour of Queen’s photographer Rankin and a former model for Queen’s photographer John French, Barbara has surely captured some reflected majesty from the royal lens, despatching pie and mash and a Coca Cola with regal poise.

[Far right] Fans of the shop

The absence of eels was compensated by Castle’s steaming custard-covered confections

They were contemplated with serious deliberation. Edward Mosse proved that the Wasp is inevitably drawn to bright colours and sticky sweetness.

As the little hand approached the big number two, the busyness subsided, allowing for more expansive chit chat and banter with the staff.

Longstanding dinner lady Anne embodies the welcoming spirit of Castle’s and is on first name terms with all the regulars, including the successive generations of many family trees.

You and your lunch mates will not be referred to as ‘guys’, and you will not be asked if your meal is OK. That’s well worth a nugget in the tips tupperware.

Anne’s nephew Daniel is the under-pieman. Upon his graduation he will, I imagine, get an emblematic pastry tattooed across his torso – if there’s room left.

Carly is Castle’s front-of-house face; for the keen-eyed observer of the human condition, the till is the perfect vantage point from which to view the rich pageant of the life quotidian.

Camden’s main thoroughfare – a massive draw for shoppers and tourists alike – was knocked for six by the Covid crisis, and is still recovering. That this plucky little shop in the backstreets survives is something of a miracle – something to do, perhaps, with being human.

Backstreet details.

Tapping the Admiral is a well appointed back street pub less than 10 minutes' distant by two-foot taxi.
You should go.

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