{"id":452771,"date":"2025-09-26T12:17:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T12:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/452771\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T12:17:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T12:17:13","slug":"london-is-the-worlds-greatest-pizza-city-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/452771\/","title":{"rendered":"London is the world’s greatest pizza city now"},"content":{"rendered":"

With lower barriers to entry, pizza in pubs makes sense, and can be a less risky way to try out a concept. At Dough Hands, for example, the pub takes 15% of revenue. Ace Pizza, which for years has operated from the Pembury Tavern in Hackney and describes its pizzas as \u201cchewy and charred\u201d (buzzwords of the new-gen pizza), recently launched its first standalone site near Victoria Park.<\/p>\n

Lewis, who runs Lenny\u2019s Apizza from the Bedford Tavern in north London, also started making pizza after watching Portnoy\u2019s videos. He fell in love with New Haven-style, where coal-fired pizzas are almost black underneath, large and sliced in an idiosyncratic, haphazard fashion. \u201cIt felt like something I wanted to eat and couldn\u2019t find anywhere else,\u201d he says, describing his pizzas as \u201ccrispy, chewy and charred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toppings in New Haven are often simple \u2013 Lewis\u2019s tomato pie is a standout \u2013 and the pizzas, served on large metal trays atop a white baking sheet, encourage sharing. Lewis describes New Haven\u2019s pizza scene as \u201ca communal experience\u201d, and perhaps that\u2019s partly why they are resonating so much with younger, cash-strapped audiences. The pizzas tend to be reasonably priced (starting at \u00a312 at Dough Hands, \u00a312.50 for 14-inch pizzas at Lenny\u2019s), and sharing a few pizzas between a group in a pub is far more affordable than dining at a restaurant (I\u2019ve eaten at Lenny\u2019s for less than a tenner).<\/p>\n

\"Dough<\/p>\n

Dough Hands founder Hannah Drye<\/p>\n

Lewis considered a van or market stall before a New Haven pizza maker who\u2019d come across his Instagram suggested a pub where the New Haven Gooners, an Arsenal supporter group, would visit. Coincidentally, Lewis lived near the Bedford Tavern, met the landlord and, by early 2024, was running the kitchen. \u201cI think the marriage between this style of pizza and a pub is a really good one,\u201d says Lewis, pointing to their size (14 inches) and crispiness (no cutlery needed).<\/p>\n

Gerry del Guercio, one half of Instagram page Bite Twice Food Reviews<\/a>, which launched pizza reviews in lockdown and has since expanded to all sorts of foods, agrees pizza belongs in pubs. \u201cNothing beats an ice cold beer with pizza.\u201d Bite Twice also emerged from lockdown, when del Guercio and Paul Delany began posting reviews of pizzerias like Vincenzo\u2019s and Crisp. They saw a new kind of pizza emerging, which del Guercio calls \u201cLondon style\u201d. Borrowing elements from the East Coast (thin and crisp) and Naples (high quality toppings, sometimes puffier crusts), many new-gen pizzerias are eschewing traditional categorisation. Crisp calls itself \u201cnot New York, not Italian\u201d and Sebastian Vince, owner of Breadstall, describes his pies as \u201cLondon pizza\u201d.<\/p>\n