The National Pizza Awards have announced its winners for 2025, and the top pick is only found in London.
It’s Short Road Pizza’s The Short Road Marinara, a menu item controversial to some pizza fans, as it doesn’t even have cheese. This particular take on the recipe does, though.
The Marinara is topped with tomato sauce, garlic mash and spicy chimchurri as standard. However, the winner crowned by the National Pizza Awards also features stracciatella, anchovies and oregano — order the “Make it Deluxe” upgrade for that, although veggies and vegans should stick with the original style, of course.
Short Road Pizza currently operates two locations. There’s one residency in Three Colts Tavern in Bethnal Green, another in William the Fourth in Leyton.
This pizza project began over lockdown, the brainchild of Ugo Galelli and Kate Prior — who are also conveniently husband and wife.
Short Road also won a second award for best Alternative Slice, for its Caramelle Piccanti. This one isn’t actually listed on the pizza-marker’s online menu at present, but is a vegan smash with porcini mushroom, sweet peppers, (vegan) parmesan and stracciatella, hot honey, basil pesto and slow-cooked tomato sauce.
Other top winners for 2025 include Bing Bong Pizza’s With a Little H(ELP) From My Friends. Strange name aside, it sounds tasty — chilli sausage, pink fir potato slices, Romano peppers and seasoned salt/pepper Kale. Plus mozzarella and tomato sauce.
Bing Bong Pizza has a residency at Hackney’s You Call The Shots bar.
Third place went to well-established pizza hero Yard Sale, for its Ragu Pazzo. It’s a mozzarella pizza with red onion chutney, yellow cherry tomatoes, white anchovies and a “lemon marmalade swirl.”
This one does not appear to be part of Yard Sale Pizza’s regular menu.
Among the National Pizza Awards 2025 finalists were an array of London’s pizza highlights, Glasgow’s Pizza Punks and — with a raised eyebrow — a couple of establishment eyebrow-raisers, in Zizzi and Franco Manca.
The awards’ use of what looks like generative AI for its promo image is a bit of a bummer, too, but at least we have another pizza recommendation or two for the next pub chat.
The National Pizza Awards are operated by Dine Out magazine.
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