Italian pizzeria chain invests £350k to open new restaurant at Beverley shopping centre

A chain of Italian pizzerias is set to open a brand new restaurant in Beverley’s Flemingate centre.

Buca di Pizza will open a pizzeria and bar at Flemingate in August following a £350k fit out, creating 20 full-time and part-time jobs.

Loosely translating as “the pizza pit”, Buca di Pizza is named after the basement premises of the brand’s first restaurant in Wellington Street, Leeds city centre.

The 3,200 sq ft Flemingate restaurant will be the fourth branch of the independent business, following further openings in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, and Lloyd Street, Manchester.

It will feature an exposed kitchen and pizza oven and have 120 covers inside, with space for a further 45 diners outside.

Buca di Pizza takes traditional Italian classics and whilst also using flavours from around the world. Alongside pizza classics such as the Margherita, the pizzeria’s menu also features the Snake Charmer, a pizza topped with Goan coconut curry sauce, lamb koftas and onion bhajis, and the Hickory Pig pizza with smoked pulled pork, pancetta and spiced cheddar.

The brand is owned by brothers Geoff and Nick Thornton through their Leeds-based Wellington Pizza Company business.

The entrepreneurs are focused on growing the Buca di Pizza brand, with aims of establishing 10 restaurants across the M62 corridor within the next three years.

Geoff Thornton said: “Beverley feels just right for us. It’s a historic market town with a sizeable and growing local population, as well as incoming trade from tourists and the surrounding towns and villages.”

The brand has made a name for itself with its Tutto deal, offering bottomless pizza and refills of prosecco or house beer. Diners have 90 minutes to make the most of the £25.95 offer which will be available at times to be decided at the Flemingate restaurant.

Customers will also be able to choose from a drinks menu featuring Italian wines and beers, bottled and house beers, cocktails and prosecco.

Mr Thornton added: “The essence of Buca di Pizza is classic Italian pizza, but with a modern twist in terms of ingredients and flavour. Lots of people tell us it’s the best pizza they have tasted outside Italy.

“We’re part of a new breed of pizzeria, offering more unusual and interesting choices. Our more modern interpretations are proving increasingly popular and now make up more than 50% of pizza sales.”

Graham Tait, Flemingate centre manager, added: “Buca di Pizza is a great addition to Flemingate and brings another new and distinctive offering to the centre and Beverley as a whole.

“We have always aimed to achieve a good balance of major high street brands that have not previously been represented in Beverley, local independents and growing businesses from the wider region who are keen to bring investment into the town.”