Pizza and a pint…
We’ve found a tiny minute to reflect on the last few months and have a chat over a pizza and a pint at our Newhaven shop. In the month of May whilst our kitchen at the Lewes Arms was keeping busy we opened our doors in Newhaven and had month long residency in Brighton at Speigel Gardens. It was a busy time for the business and crazy it feels like just yesterday that we were doing our first festival gig, and now, here we are in our very own shop in Newhaven.
The launch has been a massive success, and the way the locals have warmly welcomed us has meant the world to us. Seeing people hanging out, grabbing a slice of Pat’s pizza and spilling out onto the pavement to chat has been truly incredible. We’ve made so many new friends and feel supported from day one, we’re very excited to be part of the community for many years to come. One customer told us it was amazing to see people socializing like this, calling it an "unprecedented sight for Newhaven High Street"!
Since we’ve had so many people popping in and asking about how we’re doing, I thought it would be fun to sit down and ask Pat a few questions. So here we go...
Liz: “What you got there then Pat?
Pat: “Pizza and a pint.”
Liz: “I think you might need to say more! I’ve got the new Pat’s pizza special which is fresh! I’m also really impressed with Beak’s Nolia - makes a nice pairing with this veggie pizza. I’m getting my 5 a day and it’s no alcohol IPA!”
Pat: “I’m balancing out your virtue with a Diavola and a Veltins.”
Diavola pizza.
Liz: "Spicy! So Pat, you grew up over in Lewes, but what was it that made you decide Newhaven was the perfect spot to set up this venture. Did I influence you all those many moons ago with my wild swimming at Tide Mills beach at all times of the year?!"
Pat: "Ha, you’re a loony! Well for me, Newhaven has always had this really strong sense of community. I’ve so many childhood memories of coming down here during the school holidays to visit the fort, or jumping on the ferry to Dieppe. Now, we’re taking our kids on those same trips. We have a family trip to Normandy coming up so we’ll obviously be coming to get a pizza before we get on the ferry!”
The iconic DFDS ferry coming into Newhaven from Dieppe.
Liz: "Well I guess we’re going to be going without it for a few days, be rude not to eat some pizza before we go! Aside from swimming, getting the kids to Newhaven fort is one of my all time favourite ways to spend a day with the littles. Would you agree we have more of an emotional connection with Newhaven as opposed to say Brighton or Eastbourne?"
View from Newhaven Fort.
Pat: Yeah, and also knowing people really deserve some good pizza in this town! Brighton is great but it’s always busy everywhere. Newhaven’s got a great vibe, it’s a gentler town by the sea, we’re closer to the countryside and the South Downs. I imagined people coming by the shop to grab a pizza then taking them down to the beach, or coming down after you’ve had a morning at the fort with the kids or just keeping it simple and ordering a pizza to take home. On the high street you have the option to grab a pizza and a pint. We’ve had cyclists stop by from London on their way to France, we have some great cycling routes around here. You can get here so easily from Lewes by bike along the river Ouse. I think Newhaven has so much to offer, and different ways you can interact with the town, it’s a hidden gem.
Liz: “I’m excited about the art scene here. As a creative myself it is motivating to see so many quality exhibitions and community projects on the go, I want to be more involved. The ‘A community of kindness’ art project that Look Again delivered was inspired [Look Again is a socially engaged creative project based in Newhaven, East Sussex, which delivers cultural experiences and animates public spaces.] I miss seeing the billboard on the roundabout, the ‘Everybody is welcome’ was my favourite quote. The exhibition they’ve got on at the moment is epic; ‘50 years of print’ really cool to be able to access such an incredible showcase of talent on our doorstep.”
Liz: "So Pat, how has the local Newhaven community welcomed us since the doors opened?"
People outside the shop on Newhaven High Street.
Pat: We’ve been so warmly welcomed by the people of the town. It’s great to meet all the characters of Newhaven. We’ve found that customers like to hang out at the shop, they’ll eat a slice and chat inside or spill outside onto the high street. The other businesses on the high street have been especially kind, our neighbour Rachel at La Baguette Shop, all the women at Nikkis Hair Boutique have been so supportive and Amy at Morrisons is kindly letting us use some of her fridge space. It’s nice to know Sam and his brothers are here too, we know them from Lewes, they have the best veg we need to sort out some swaps.
Delivery pizza boxes piled high in the window ready for takeaway.
Liz: "So what’s happening with delivery at the minute? We’ve had a fair amount of requests for delivery for people outside of Newhaven— like in Seaford and Peacehaven…"
Pat: We hope to have delivery on this week which means we’ll be delivering to Newhaven, Seaford, Piddinghoe, South Heighton, Peacehaven… We’ll continue to use Deliveroo but we prefer to use our own drivers as they will know the pizza and ordering directly from us is better for us and them because the money isn’t going to a third party big business, it’s keeping it in the local economy and the drivers get paid. You can order delivery here.
Yaz in the kitchen about to cut the pancetta.
Liz: "Okay let’s talk ingredients! We have so many quality suppliers and also use local ingredients that I’m not sure everyone knows about. Tell us about the local Sussex produce"
Pat: “Our cheese supplier is based in West Sussex and has the best selection of local cheese which we’ve used for many of our Pat’s Pizza specials. For the Al Funghi pizza we use a local blue cheese called ‘Brighton Blue.’ The grain we use for our pizza flour is grown by a local farmer on the Sussex/Kent border.
Scaling fresh dough into dough balls.
Liz: "In your opinion, what makes Pat’s pizza the best pizza in Newhaven?"
Pat: “You know me, I like to keep things simple. The fact we’re using a locally grown heritage grain with our pizza flour and making our own dough means we’re already making tasty pizza before you add toppings. And, as far as I’m aware, I think we’re the only pizza place in Sussex using a local farmer to grow our grain, which is also grown using regenerative farming methods. These small details matter and count towards making it a really good pizza. We make everything in-house so we’re keeping it fresh. We make our own sauerkraut, which is used for the Pat’s pizza special ‘The Pat’strami’ and our loaded pickle fries (only available in Lewes) Speaking of the Pat’strami, for that pizza we also brine and smoke our own Pastrami - using brisket we buy from our local butcher ‘Richard’s’ in Lewes. The sauces like the muhammura for the vegan pizza are carefully made and our recipe has been perfected over the last few years. We are a real living wage employer and our pizza chefs are treated well above this, if you have happy staff you have good food.
Classic Margherita pizza.
Liz: "What are the top three most popular pizzas on our menu right now?"
Pat: Pepperoni, Margherita and Diavola. We use quality thick cut spicy pepperoni from Napoli which makes the difference and the Diavola sells well because - I’m quoting a review from a customer here “wasn’t too stingy with the nduja which is big for me as most restaurants seem to be”.
Don’t forget the Yes Boss, you know when you go into a charcoal grill and they ask if you want garlic mayo and you reply “yes boss”. Well, our homemade yes boss sauce is garlic mayo with 23 ingredients including but not limited to mustard, confit garlic, and pickle brine.
Diavola pizza with yes boss sauce.
Liz: "Gotta love dipping your crust in a bit of Yes Boss sauce! Do we have options for gluten-free, vegetarian, or vegan pizza lovers?"
Pat: Yes! All of the above. Many of our vegetarian pizzas are vegan friendly. We have a quality vegan cheese which is available as a replacement on all of our pizzas. We make gluten free bases to our own recipe. And our ‘Aleppo’ pizza is vegan and as more and more people try it it is becoming more popular. Ayla from Ayla Eats gave this pizza a 10/10 and said “I give the toppings 10/10. One of the best / most innovative veggie toppings I have ever had on a pizza”
‘The Aleppo’ vegan friendly pizza.
Liz: "I’m going to ask you this but I also want to answer it too, ha! What was the biggest, funniest, or most stressful 'behind-the-scenes' moment leading up to our launch?"
Liz: “Throughout the shop renovation I got called the colour police, more than once! I spent months, and many sample pots and colour matching later, deliberating on the exact shade of the shopfront. I’m pleased the yellow represents the super fun happy place Pat’s Pizza is. Special shout out to our painters Danny and Simon because we were painting yellow over a pre-existing black and they had to do A LOT of coats, we lost count. Thankfully we have had lots of comments on how warm and welcoming the shop is, I remember someone saying “it feels really good to be in here”. I’m going to do a blog post about all the talented folk that were involved in the project when I get another minute.
Danny painting the 300th layer of yellow paint.
Pat: The initial destructive part of any project is always fun. When we first got in we took a wall down to expose the old brickwork and discovered an old fireplace which was exciting but also opened a can of worms. There was material that was suspected asbestos but fortunately turned out to be completely fine! Was a tense few weeks waiting to know. Now you see in the shop a lovely painted steel beam, beautiful olive green tiles and repointed bricks, it was all worth it.
Our pals that have helped on the project, Simon and Bill.
Liz : I feel it’s important to acknowledge the help we’ve received to get here, how did the funding from NEZ help us?
Pat: “Of course. The funding really helped make our shop a reality. The funding helped cover the initial shop fit out, it helped us invest in a top of the range pizza oven, and allowed us to employ talented local artists to design the signage for the outside of the shop. The costs of running a hospitality business are high and to open a shop in the current climate is no mean feat - the funding has really helped softened the blow.”
Pat’s pizza shop on Newhaven High Street.
Liz : "If a customer is coming in for the very first time, what’s the vibe or experience you hope they walk away with?"
Pat: That it’s a welcoming, warm and friendly atmosphere - and it smells great! You’ve done a lovely job designing the interior of the shop, everyone says the design is amazing. Visually it’s a beautiful space to be in and really uplifting to have somewhere like that on the high street. By the response we’ve had this last month people do walk away with that positive feeling, especially if they’ve already started eating their pizza.
Liz: "We’re working on some community focused events behind the scenes. But what’s next for us? Any secret menu items or summer events in the pipeline?"
Pat’s pizza for June the Zucchini Supreme.
