Polski Sklep: A Recent History of the Polish Shop

The Food Programme

BBC

Arts, Food

4.4 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since the early 2000s, one type of shop has quietly become a regular feature on British high streets: the Polski sklep – or Polish shop.

Known for their smoked sausages, sour pickles, and wide selection of herbal teas, these shops offer more than just food. With Polish people now the largest non-British nationality in the UK, and Polish the next most spoken language after English and Welsh, they also reflect a broader story of migration and community. Jaega Wise explores what makes these stores worth visiting for everyone, not just Poles, and how they’re adapting to the challenges facing the high street.

To find out more, Jaega visits Peterborough – a city she once lived in and remembers for its vibrant Polish community. There, she explores the busy Europol supermarket and a popular home-style restaurant, Pierogarnia.

In Walthamstow, she meets cultural historian and second-generation Pole Dr Kasia Tomasiewicz, who explains the background behind the herbal teas and how they connect her to her ancestors. And back in Hackney, Jaega makes pierogi at home with food writer Zuza Zak, using a mix of Polish and British ingredients. She also hears from Dr Kathy Burrell, Professor of Migration Geographies at the University of Liverpool.

Producer: Eliza Lomas

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.1	It smells like a combination of smoked, cured sausage, sour pickles and delicious smelling teas.
0:15.9	I'm in Stoke, Newington, and I've come to my local Polsky Sclep or Polish shop.
0:21.6	They are all over the country.
0:23.6	There's probably one close to where you live.
0:26.6	And in this program we're going to find out more about them.
0:29.6	We'll be returning to my local Polish shop later in the episode
0:36.6	to find some very specific
0:38.4	ingredients for a much-loved Polish food staple. But right now I'm heading to another city entirely.
0:44.8	Over a decade ago when I was just 21, I spent a year living in Peterborough and East
0:50.0	Anglia on a work placement. One of my strongest memories of the city was the presence of a vibrant
0:56.2	Polish community. What interests me now is how these small Polish food shops tell a deeper story
1:03.2	about migration, community and cultural identity. I'm curious to see how the legacy of that community
1:10.1	in Peterborough continues to shape the city.
1:13.2	So, for the first time in over a decade, I'm heading back to my old haunts in Peterborough.
1:18.9	I'm on Lincoln Road in Peterborough on a busy house street and there are shops here from all over the world.
1:25.5	There's an international food centre. There's a Nigerian shop, a Pakistani shop, Desi Karahi.
1:30.3	And quite prominently on this busy high street is a supermarket.
1:35.3	And it's called Europoli.
1:37.3	And we're going to go in and have a look.
1:40.3	From the outside, Europoli looks like you standard local food shop.
1:45.6	Giant images of tomatoes adorn the exterior.
	...

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