From a spot at the farmer’s market to their own shop, Fleetstreets is cooking up an aroma of British meat pies wafting from their doors on Cork Street.
Chailey Nelson, his son and son’s partner own Fleetstreets. One day his son Keaghan asked if he ever thought of opening up a British shop and he said, yes, for the last decade he had been thinking about it.
The shop opened on Monday at 45 Cork St., the former home of Caribbean Cuisine.
There is a large British contingent in Guelph, a lot of ex-pats, said Nelson.
Nelson is from Hammersmith, England, but moved a lot, so the cuisine isn’t reminiscent of one region.
He moved to Guelph when he was 12-years-old in the 1970s after his stepfather received a scholarship from the University of Guelph. Nelson went back to England for college and studied art and photography at St. Austell.
In setting up Fleetstreets, he went to all the British suppliers and nothing tasted authentic enough to him so he decided they would make the majority of their goods at the shop.
Nelson asked Alyssa Augas, the baker at Fleetstreets, if she knew what a Cornish pasty was. She didn’t, but gave Nelson one to try the next day and asked if this is what Cornish pasty tasted like. Augas got the recipe spot on.
It’s one of Nelson’s favourite pastries. “It was designed for coal miners years and years ago in the south of England,” said Nelson. “So it's like the whole meal encased in pastry, with a big knob at the end."
“I’d say it’s comfort food and it's a better quality, I think, than what you can get around here as far as British pies and baking stuff,” said Keaghan Nelson.
“People don’t always have faith in us. ‘Oh you’re going to make money out of pies?’ said Nelson. “There’s more of a vision here than just selling pies. It’s a community thing. It’s a British thing.”
Augas’ has worked in many different facets of the restaurant industry, from fine dining, to french cuisine and pastry.
After she stopped working for Trotters Butcher Shop and Charcuterie, also on Cork Street, she had a lot of time on her hands so she put it to use by researching and baking all sorts of British cuisine.
Augas’ is looking forward to the holidays to sell larger format pies for pre-order.
Thoughts of having a lunch program with sandwiches and soups have crossed their minds since Fleetstreets has a deli counter.
So far, the sausage rolls have been the best seller.
Eventually, they will have desserts like fruit pies and lemon tarts. For now they have custard tarts with a recipe the Portuguese made specifically for Queen Victoria.
