Franco Manca to open in Richmond-upon-Thames as expansion continues

The 94-cover restaurant on Red Lion Street, opening on 18 May, will be housed within an old police station.

It comes soon after other recent openings for the expanding brand, following Bournemouth and Brighton Marina, and plans to expand further before the end of the year.

The venue will serve the restaurant’s usual short, numbered pizza menu, as well as its two recently-added ‘small bites’: focaccia with fresh rosemary, sea salt and olive oil; and baked spicy lamb sausage cooked in organic tomato with buffalo ricotta.

The restaurant’s head ‘pizzaiolo’ will also offer daily changing meat and vegetable specials.

The short drinks list will include a range of natural and organic wines, as well as its own ‘No Logo’ beer, pale ale, and cider.

“With Richmond's vast green parks and riverside views, it is the perfect spot to enjoy a Neapolitan sourdough pizza before a stroll,” says Christian Pompetti, restaurant manager at Franco Manca Richmond.

Franco Manca was founded in Brixton Market in 2008 by David Page, former chief executive of PizzaExpress and Italian chef Giuseppe Mascoli, and aims to serve Neapolitan-style pizza in an authentic, simple way, using organic and locally-sourced produce where possible.

It now runs to 36 sites, mainly in central and/or affluent suburban locations such as Soho, Victoria Nova, Westfield London, Covent Garden, Canary Wharf, Kentish Town, Battersea, Balham, Putney, Bermondsey, Ealing, Muswell Hill, and Wimbledon.  

Outside of London, it also has one apiece in Guildford and Southampton, plus two total sites in Brighton.