Buckhurst Hill, Pizza Restaurant Guide

“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.

“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.

This lively microbrewery with a large canal-side terrace in Hackney Wick, directly opposite Olympic Park, is “perfect on a sunny day” – and a pretty safe bet year-round for “decent pizzas and a good selection of beers”, including unfiltered ultra-sustainable ales brewed in-house. Its ‘White Building’ premises, a printworks that became a squat, hosts a range of weekend events.

“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.

2022 Review: In gentrifying Clapton – this ‘pizza pub’ (on the former site of The Elephant’s Head) is the creation of the founders of two pizza multiples: Santa Maria (Pasquale Chionchio & Angelo Ambrosio) and Firezza (Edin Basic). Craft beers and live music complete the offering.

“Be prepared to queue, as these are very popular irrespective of the gentrification label they have undeservedly been given” – a duo of hip East End bakers, which support at-risk young Londoners and operate out of an urban-grunge alley near Dalston Junction (the original), now with a Harringay spin-off in Green Lanes. As well as pastries, cakes and bread to take away, both provide excellent brunches: “towering sandwiches plus good coffee”. “Wish there was one in our neighbourhood instead of the ever-expanding Gails juggernaut!”

“Fabulous pizza” – “quick, fresh, delicious”, and “impeccably made with original toppings” – makes this London-based group “a Friday night favourite”, with 14 outlets across the capital and counting. Founders Johnnie Tate & Nick Buckland last year secured investment designed to boost their presence to 40 sites over five years.

A Finsbury Park fixture for almost 30 years, this particularly friendly and lively Italian welcomes a loyal crowd for pizza, pasta and a decent selection of main dishes.

2022 Review: A late 2020 arrival in Hackney – this new haunt bills itself as ‘a neighbourhood oasis in east london’. It’s a large space (200 covers), complete with bar made out of recycled materials and garden courtyard. Everything is ‘curated’ including the craft pizza. No survey feedback as yet, but the general social buzz about the place is a good one.

2024 Review: “Top Neapolitan pizza”, say fans of this Kensal Rise 11-year-old and its Crouch End offshoot, which offers a “limited and delicious menu (they stick to what they know) in cool surroundings”.

2024 Review: This lively bottle shop and local in De Beauvoir Town does a good trade in Neapolitan-style pizzas and a small selection of Italian starters and mains – not surprisingly, it attracts “loadsa families, so choose your time carefully”.

“Still our pizza favourite no matter how successful and busy they get… the black dough even makes you feel you’re eating healthy!” – this eight-strong chain has grown from its Islington base over the last ten years (est. 2016) and its successful formula revolves around four 48-hour slow-fermented doughs – charcoal, wholemeal, gluten-free and traditional. Of these the first is the most eye-catching: “interesting charcoal-based pizza with delicious toppings”. The original N7 branch near Arsenal and the W14 one (they call it ‘Hammersmith’ but it’s closer to Olympia) attract most feedback, but it’s the food that wins fans: for example, “the original one feels buzzy when Arsenal play at home when it’s packed out, but otherwise can feel a bit grim and loveless”.

“Top-class pizza at the new outlet by Kew Gardens” (on the site of Hawthorn, RIP) wins a particular thumbs-up this year for this “properly Neapolitan” chain (“down to the shrine to Diego Maradona on the wall” in TW9). It was well-rated this year, if not as stratospherically as days gone by, supporting those who feel: “I don’t seem as keen on this place as everyone else, but it’s fresh and friendly and local”. The group started in Ealing over 15 years ago and – as well as its Kew launch – also added a Paddington branch in 2025 to join those in Fitzrovia, Fulham and Islington.

“Fantastic pizza that’s good value” continues to win praise for Alan & Mark Wogan’s (the sons of the late Sir Terry) three-strong chain in Neal’s Yard (the original), Marylebone and the City. The 20-inch pizzas are enough to feed 2-3 people and flavours can be split 50/50.

“Sneakily good pizza” – double-fermented Neapolitan-style – ensure that many branches are “always packed” at the Elliot brothers’ still-expanding chain, whose new summer 2025 opening at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane marked a return to the site of one of their earliest pop-ups in 2013. Nowadays, it’s one of the more commented-on multiples in our annual diners’ poll. Top Menu Tip – “pepperoni and honey!”

“Sneakily good pizza” – double-fermented Neapolitan-style – ensure that many branches are “always packed” at the Elliot brothers’ still-expanding chain, whose new summer 2025 opening at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane marked a return to the site of one of their earliest pop-ups in 2013. Nowadays, it’s one of the more commented-on multiples in our annual diners’ poll. Top Menu Tip – “pepperoni and honey!”