Purezza heads to Manchester for first northern outpost

The group has taken on the former Dough Pizza Kitchen site in the city's Northern Quarter for what will be its fifth restaurant location.

It follows a year of strong growth for Purezza, which doubled its restaurant estate from two to four sites last year with new openings in Hove and Bristol.

Meanwhile, a successful funding drive saw the group also raise £2.4m​​ to drive the growth of its retail arm, as well fund further restaurant expansion both in the UK and internationally.

Purezza serves a fully vegan menu of sourdough pizzas made with plant-based mozzarella that’s produced in-house.

Signature pizzas include ‘Parmigiana Party’ topped with smoked mozzarella, aubergine parmigiana, crumbled vegan sausage; and a dusting of nutritional yeast; and an ‘nduja’ one with mozzarella, green chillies, roasted aubergines, baby sweetcorn, red peppers, sriracha sauce and chilli flakes.

“Manchester has been on our agenda for years now," says Tim Barclay, co-founder and co-owner of Purezza. 

"We’ve had more requests to open in Manchester than any other city in the UK, and it’s truly a pleasure to honour those requests and to finally make it happen," 

"We’re really excited about this, and we can’t wait to welcome you through our doors.”

Purezza opened its debut site in Brighton in November 2015, which it claims to be the first vegan pizzeria in the UK.

It went on to open its first London site in Camden in 2018.

As well as its restaurant launched in Hove and Bristol, the group also launched its first delivery kitchen last year, in Brixton.