Posted on April 11th, 2025
April 14th, 2025 it’s our 111th Birthday, and we are celebrating on Saturday, April 12th!
Over the last 111 years the times have changed in extraordinary ways, but, thankfully, one thing has remained the same: Arments delicious pie and mash!
Arment’s story began way back in 1914 when William and Emily Arment bought their first pie shop at 386 Walworth Road. With its traditional glazed tile walls, marble table tops, opening sash windows and sawdust-covered floor the shop was very of its time.
Arments soon became well-established in the local community and William and Emily were regarded by many locals as the people’s King & Queen. Fast forward to today and Arments is still family-run and still serving delicious pie and mash made to the same recipe as it was all those years ago.
To commemorate Arments 111th birthday we thought we’d take a quick trip down memory lane to see what was happening in William and Emily’s world, all those years ago, in 1914, as the couple were just starting their business. They, like everyone else, were blissfully unaware that in just a few months’ time the country would be plunged into a devastating war.
1914, a momentous year
- 1914 is of course most known for being the year that saw the start of the First World War. It was sparked off by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo, and events quickly escalated. Great Britain announced its intention of going to war with the Germans, on August 4, 1914, with a gloomy observation made by Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary.
“The lights are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
- King George V was King of Great Britain, and Lord Asquith was the prime minister.
- The first colour feature film was shown in Britain: “The World, the Flesh and The Devil.”
- The first performance of Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw took place at His Majesty’s Theatre, London.
- The Suffragettes mounted several arson attacks including Mary Wood’s on John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Henry James at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
- The first International Criminal Police Congress was held in Monaco with 24 countries represented in an attempt to create international police cooperation ( a later effort in 2023 led to the establishment of Interpol)
- Many people lived in slum-like conditions in back-to-back tenements. Life expectancy was 49 years for a man and 53 for a woman.
- Most people had never taken a holiday beyond a day trip to Brighton or Blackpool.
- The 1914 FA Cup final took place between Liverpool and Burnley at Crystal Palace.
- 2099 people died in road accidents compared with 1754 in 2012 (just 717 of them were due to horse drawn vehicles with the others due to cars).
- Women’s fashion was changing, and they were adopting shorter skirts and looser fitting clothes. The first ready-made outfits hit the streets in the West End.
- Tinned food was all the rage including Bisto gravy, Heinz baked beans and Bird’s custard. Cookery books and new home refrigerated devices were on the rise too.
We hope you enjoyed our quick recap of the happenings in 1914, the year Arments started in business. Today, Arments continues to serve pie, mash and liquor meals using the same 100-year-old recipe and remains family owned. But of course, we’ve also moved with the times over recent years by making our pies more accessible to those of you who have moved away from London. We have a growing number of Licensed Sellers, you can order online for cold delivery anywhere in mainland UK, order hot local delivery via Justeat, or come into our shop – we’d love to see you.
It will be our 111th birthday on Monday, April 14th, so we’re celebrating on Saturday, April 12th, with free treats in-store (while stocks last). Finally, we would like to say a huge thank you to you all for your continued custom.
