Only in London by Duncan J.D. Smith

229 South Bank (SE) of fast foods outside. Either way the product is the same: a traditional beef pie with mashed potatoes served with a topping of parsley sauce, known as liquor . A splash of vinegar with a side helping of jellied or stewed eels completes the experience (although a global shortage of eels has seen a hike in prices recently). For devotees of the dish there is the Pie & Mash Club, which meets regularly at different restaurants and grades them accordingly (www.pie-n-mash.com) . Those in need of a stroll after eating should head north from Manze’s to Bermondsey Square (SE1), where the shadowy 11th cen- tury remains of Bermondsey Abbey can be seen beneath a glass floor in the Del’Aziz restaurant at Number 11. Even more surprising, around the corner at the junction of Mandela Way and Page’s Walk, is a de- commissioned Soviet T-34 tank! It was placed here in 1995 by local property developer Russell Gray after his plans to develop the site were refused by Southwark Council. London’s Blue Plaques mark places where those who excelled in their chosen profession were born, lived, worked or died – and there are hundreds of them. The idea originated at the Royal Society of Arts in 1864, with the now-distinctive blue-and-white design adopted in 1937. Entire books have been written about them. Pie’n’mash and liquor sauce at Manze’s on Tower Bridge Road