Pizza Pilgrims line up three London openings

Pizza Pilgrims founders Thom and James Elliot have revealed plans to open a further three London restaurants later this year.

The siblings - who created the now four-strong business in a pub in 2011 - will launch their first permanent East London site in Shoreditch High Street in early March.

It will be followed by restaurants in West India Quay and Waterloo later in the year.

The Shoreditch site is set to debut Pizza Pilgrims' version of the deep-fried Mars Bar, where guests will be able to bring in a chocolate bar and have it covered in dough and baked.

It will also be the group’s first BYOB restaurant, with a £2.50 corkage charge after the first month of opening.

New menu items will include Crust Dippers; Prosciutto Pops; and Tiramisu served in takeaway cardboard espresso cups, alongside the group's signature thin-crust pizzas.

Pizza playground

In the past six years Pizza Pilgrims has grown from a street food stall to a four-strong London business with a set-up in crazy golf bar Swingers.

Speaking to BigHospitality's sister title Restaurant Magazine last year, the Elliot's said they wanted the upcoming 5,500 sq.ft West india Quay site to function as a ‘pizza playground’ complete with foosball tables and computer games.

“On any business plan, this would raise eyebrows, but it is really fun and different,” said Thom.

“We haven’t gone ‘this is what a Pizza Pilgrims looks like so let’s do 50 of them’, but rather thought ‘that looks fun and might work, let’s do it’.”

Pizza Pilgrims will be popping-up at The Red Gallery in Shoreditch from 9-11 February ahead of their East London opening.