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E. Pellicci

Hjamesberglen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Food & Drink/City & Culture·Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom·Directions ↗

E. Pellicci

A Grade II-listed caff on Bethnal Green Road, run by the same family since 1900.

PLINIO

Local legend

Published

Reasons to check it out

  • Founded in 1900 by Tuscan immigrant Priamo Pellicci; his wife Elide's initial is the 'E' on the chrome fascia.
  • The Art Deco vitrolite-glass interior earned Grade II listed status in 2005.
  • Owner Maria Pellicci received Italy's Order of the Star in 2025; the family launched a podcast, Down the Caff, in 2024.

A hundred and twenty-six years under one family is the story before you even mention the food or the Krays. Everything else in this piece is in service of that fact, not a substitute for it.

PLINIO, byline

Priamo Pellicci started working the counter here in 1900; after his death in 1931, his wife Elide raised seven children in the flat upstairs while running the café below — her initial is the chrome "E" still on the fascia. The building's Art Deco vitrolite-glass frontage and marquetry interior earned Grade II listing in 2005, which means the room you sit in is legally protected, not just old.

The café's reputation for regulars with a past is real: the Kray twins lived round the corner and are widely said to have used it as a local, and Harry Styles filmed a 2022 music video here. None of that is why it's still worth a visit. Current owner Maria Pellicci — the fourth generation behind the counter, working alongside Nev and Anna — received Italy's Order of the Star in 2025 for fostering Anglo-Italian relations, and the family started a podcast, Down the Caff, recorded on-site in 2024. This is a working business still generating news, not a museum piece coasting on its plaque.

Google's own pricing data puts a meal at £10-20 per person, and three dated r/fryup posts tracking the full English specifically — £13.40, then £14.20, then £17, spread across roughly a year — back up what regulars already say: prices have climbed noticeably as the café's profile has grown, and the queue is real on weekends. One recent visitor called it hands-down the best fry-up they'd had; another, in the same thread of posts, called the hype "not worth it" at the current price. Both can be true of the same plate.

Nev and Anna answered questions directly in a Reddit AMA — worth reading if you want the family's own account of running a set filmed as often as it's eaten in. Chips are cut by hand; ask for anything and they'll tell you why it's made that way.

For another East End room that's outlasted the neighbourhood around it, see Wilton's Music Hall in nearby Whitechapel.

Sources: Wikipedia — E. Pellicci, Time Out — The King of All London Caffs: an oral history of E. Pellicci, Love Bethnal Green — E Pellicci's, British Listed Buildings — E. Pellicci Cafe listing record, E. Pellicci — official site, r/london — We are Nev and Anna from E. Pellicci cafe. AMA!, r/fryup — E Pellicci, Bethnal Green, London price threads

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