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A popular pizzeria is finally set to open from its old home next week, three years after it was destroyed by a fire.
Pizzeria Romana will once again be serving pizza and pasta from its 300-year-old Charing Cross premises.
Owner Tony Pigliacelli said he was delighted to be reopening after a frustrating few years since an electrical fault on the second floor sparked a fire that gutted the restaurant in April 2019.
The pizzeria moved to a temporary home in Cheapside but Mr Pigliacelli had to close that last October when his lease ran out.
Video: The fire that gutted the premises in 2019.
“We just have to organise our licence but that should hopefully be sorted this week and we will be open next Monday by the latest,” he said.
Although the exterior looks the same, diners will notice a difference on the inside: covers have been reduced from 120 to 85, with all benches replaced by chairs.
There are brand new ovens, a new bar and a disabled toilet for the first time.
Pictured: The fire on the roof.
Other things have not changed: the menu of classic Italian fayre is the same and Mr Pigliacelli will still be there, supported by his colleague of 21 years, Sandra Gouveia.
The interior granite walls unsurprisingly survived the inferno – the building used to be the yard of the old Charing Cross Prison so was built to last.
Mr Pigliacelli first opened a steakhouse on the premises in 1989, changing it to Pizzeria Romana in 1997.
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