New restaurant serving up cheap grub for grand opening

Fireaway is offering customers fresh slices of pizza in just 180 seconds at their new venue in Plumstead Road from June 9.

Mario Aleppo, who founded Fireaway in 2016, said: "Our first branch here was so successful it was a no-brainer to build another in the city.

"We've invested roughly £150,000 into the new building and we've hired eight new staff."

See inside the new Fireaway pizzeria which is due to open in Plumstead Road on June7. (Image: Mario Aleppo)

The new restaurant is the second to be opened up in the city with St Benedicts Street having opened up back in April 2021.

Val Nogueira, head chef at Fireaway in Plumstead Road, said: "We're very excited about opening up.

"We've already had people come around and want to know what kind of menu we have.

"It seems like we have a lot of people interested in it and are looking forward to trying it."

As part of their opening on Thursday the restaurant are offering all pizzas for £5.

Val added: "All our signature pizzas will be available from £5 - we're expecting to cook around 500 pizzas that day - that's the goal.

"At the moment we have people prepping the food and getting the last few bits ready to be open at 12 noon.

"The business now has more than 80 stores and we want to try and improve with every shop we open."

Mario Aleppo founder of Fireaway pizzeria. (Image: Mario Aleppo)

Fireaway Pizza was launched five years ago by Mario in a single store in south London but now the brand has grown to 61 stores and turns over £500,000 a week.

The 32-year-old has grown his brand, with restaurants in Cambridge, Scotland, and more recently their first overseas pizzeria in Amsterdam.

And there are still a raft of new openings to come including Bradford, Coventry and Andover.

The restaurant boasts a stone fire oven which holds the heat and reaches heat up to 400C inside.

Mario added: "This is how we can get the pizzas done in such little time while still keeping that authentic taste."