The classic British pie and mash shop could become a mainstay of the Surrey Hills – once question marks over parking can be sorted. Plans to permanently change a former dog-grooming parlour in Box Hill into a gastronomic hotspot for the popular pie, potato and liquor dish looked set to be approved until issues were raised by Surrey Highways.
Concerns were raised over the potential risks of customers reversing out of the shop’s car park and into Boxhill Road. Every other part of the plan appeared to chime with councillors sitting during Mole Valley District Council’s development management committee as they touted the benefits it would bring.
Ultimately the committee were left with a choice of refusing the retrospective application or deferring it to allow the owners of Porsha’s Pie and Mash, which opened its doors in August 2023, the opportunity to submit the same plan – minus spaces for parking.
Councillor Paul Potter (Liberal Democrat, Brockham, Betchworth, Buckland Box Hill and Headley) told the meeting: “Last year we had a similar thing here with a fish and chip van and the exact same from Surrey County Council was the same policy to refuse his licence, again it was a highways issue, and he’d been there 27 years… and not one incident.”
Cllr Potter said the fish and chip shop was the one hot meal people in the area would enjoy out that week as there are lot of elderly people living nearby “and that’s where they went for it, and it’s the same thing with the pie and mash”.
He added: “You will find that most people that go to that pie and mash shop will walk there. That’s all they’ve got up there now, one shop, one fish and chip and and a pie and mash van. That’s all the amenities they’ve got up there.
“They’ve got no parish council to back them up, no residents associations, we are their only contact. This is on a commercial site that had cars going in and out of it since I was 16 which was a blooming long time ago.”
Boxhill Road is a 30mph road with no parking restrictions and no yellow lines. If the pie and mash shop did not have its own parking spaces, would-be customers would be free to use the plentiful on-street options.
Cllr Monica Weller (Liberal Democrat Bookham West) said: “It does seem absolutely bonkers to me, absolutely bonkers, that this is a business, and as Councillor Potter has said, people need food up there and who are we to turn down a business like this. Can we not try to do something?”
The committee voted unanimously to defer the matter and council officers will now reach out to discuss whether Porsha’s Pie and Mash would consider reapplying without explicitly providing parking outside the store.