London does not have one pizza scene. It has four, and they barely compete with each other: Neapolitan, sourdough, twenty inch American, and delivery first. Ranking them against each other is why most pizza lists are useless.
The best pizza restaurants in London sorted by what you actually want, then, with every rule read off the pizzeria’s own website.
The most useful fact first. Franco Manca serves a sourdough pizza and a soft drink for 12.50 pounds, Monday to Friday, midday to 4pm, at every one of its pizzerias. Add a dessert for 2.50 and it is fifteen pounds for two courses and a drink. That is the best value lunch in this guide and it is published rather than whispered.
Neapolitan
Pizza Pilgrims
Slow proved Neapolitan dough, started from a van, now across London and beyond.
Pizza Pilgrims
- Address
- 40 to 42 Parkway, Camden Town, NW1 7AH, one of about fifteen London pizzerias
- Nearest
- Camden Town
- Booking
- They take bookings, but their own line is that walk ins are always available, so you can just turn up
- Price
- Feasting menus for groups of eight or more from 25 pounds a head
- Standing
- Slow proved Neapolitan pizza, with pizza masterclasses at several sites
How to get in
Walk ins are always available, which they state rather than imply, so this is the one to point a group at when nowhere else will seat you. Eight or more gets a feasting menu from 25 pounds a head, which is the cheapest way to feed a birthday in central London. Several sites run pizza masterclasses and a rolling events programme of comedy, quizzes and drag. The Camden and Canary Wharf rooms have the private event space.
Santa Maria
Six London pizzerias and the most literal claim on this page.
Santa Maria
- Address
- Six sites: Fulham, Ealing, Fitzrovia, Paddington, Kew and Islington
- Nearest
- Goodge Street for Fitzrovia, Angel for Islington
- Booking
- Online at each site, or info@santamariapizzeria.com
- Standing
- Their own claim: the pizza is exactly the same as the pizza on the streets of Naples, same ingredients, same cooking method
How to get in
Three vegan pizzas rather than one token option, including a marinara that has no cheese on it at all and never did, which is the oldest and the purest Neapolitan pizza there is. The Islington and Fitzrovia rooms are the two most useful for a central evening. They publish no hours on the site, so check the individual pizzeria before a late arrival.
Sourdough
Franco Manca
Started in Brixton market, sourdough bases, and the reason the whole city’s pizza got cheaper.
Franco Manca
- Address
- Pizzerias across London, the original in Brixton Market
- Nearest
- Brixton for the original
- Hours
- The lunch deal runs Monday to Friday, midday to 4pm, at every pizzeria
- Booking
- They take bookings, and state that their pizzerias leave lots of space for walk ins and always will do
- Price
- Lunch deal 12.50 pounds for a pizza and a soft drink. Add a dessert or a bite for 2.50 and it is 15 pounds for two courses and a drink. Students get a 6 pound pizza
- Standing
- Sourdough Neapolitan, from a Napoli trattoria via Brixton, in their own words
How to get in
The 12.50 lunch is the single best value on this page, and there is one condition worth knowing before you sit down: it covers pizzas number 2, 4, 5 and 6 rather than the whole menu. Their walk in commitment is unusually explicit for a group this size, so it works when a booking has fallen through. The student price is 6 pounds, which is less than most sandwiches in central London.
Twenty inch
Homeslice
Twenty inch pizzas cooked to order, sold whole or by the enormous slice.
Homeslice
- Address
- Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden, plus the City and Marylebone
- Nearest
- Covent Garden or Leicester Square
- Booking
- The City site books online through SevenRooms. Neal’s Yard is walk in only. info@homeslicepizza.co.uk
- Standing
- Twenty inch wood fired pizzas, with mozzarella delivered fresh from Naples twice a week
How to get in
Twenty inches is the whole idea and it changes how you order: one pizza between two people with two different halves is the normal move rather than one each. The booking rule differs by site, which catches people out: the City takes reservations and Neal’s Yard takes none at all. Camden Town Brewery on tap and a rotating list of London craft bottles.
Delivery first
Yard Sale Pizza
Born in a back garden oven, now across north, east and south London, and the only one here that refuses third party delivery apps.
Yard Sale Pizza
- Address
- 23 White Conduit Street, Angel, N1 9HA, one of eighteen London shops
- Nearest
- Angel
- Hours
- Angel: Monday to Wednesday 4pm to 10pm, Thursday midday to 10pm, Friday and Saturday midday to 10.30pm, Sunday midday to 10pm
- Booking
- 020 3457 3708
- Standing
- Won Time Out’s Clash of the Slices in 2022 and Observer Food Monthly’s Best Value Eats the same year
How to get in
They deliver themselves and never through a third party app, which is why the pizza arrives in the condition it left in. Note the opening time: most sites do not open until four in the afternoon Monday to Wednesday, so a weekday lunch here does not exist. Thursday onwards they open at midday. Their awards are real and dated: Best Cheap Eats in 2017, Best Value Eats in 2022, and London’s favourite pizza in Time Out’s 2022 vote.
How to choose between London pizza restaurants, in one line each
Cheapest good lunch: Franco Manca, 12.50 weekdays before four.
A group with no booking: Pizza Pilgrims, because walk ins are always available and eight or more gets a feasting menu from 25 a head.
Closest to actual Naples: Santa Maria, on their own claim, and the marinara is the test.
Two of you, one pizza: Homeslice, because twenty inches is not a portion for one.
Eating at home: Yard Sale, because they own the delivery rather than handing it to an app.
Practical notes
Check the opening time, not the closing time. Yard Sale does not open until four on Monday to Wednesday at most sites. A pizza lunch on a Tuesday is a shorter list than you think.
The lunch deals are weekday only and they stop at four. Franco Manca’s is midday to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and it is a fixed list of four pizzas rather than the full menu.
Walk ins genuinely work at two of these. Franco Manca and Pizza Pilgrims both publish a commitment to holding space for them. That is rare enough in London to plan around.
Vegan is properly catered for, not tokenised. Santa Maria lists three vegan pizzas, one of which is the marinara, which has never had cheese on it. The vegan guide covers the rest of the city.
Everything here was taken from each pizzeria’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Lunch deals and student offers change without notice. Confirm before you travel.
Cheap eats in London covers the cheapest way into this and one awkward fact: Franco Manca’s national menu carries no pizza prices at all.
Where to go next
The Italian restaurants guide covers the cooking beyond pizza, and the restaurants guide the wider field.
For the other cheap and excellent end of London eating: the burgers. For the same method applied to other cuisines, Japanese, Thai and vegan.
By neighbourhood: Covent Garden for Homeslice, Islington for Yard Sale and Santa Maria, and Canary Wharf for Pizza Pilgrims.
Questions we get asked
Who has the best pizza in London?
It depends which of four styles you mean, which is why a single ranking is not much use. For Neapolitan, Pizza Pilgrims and Santa Maria. For sourdough, Franco Manca, which also does the best value lunch in the city at 12.50 pounds. For twenty inch American style, Homeslice. For delivery, Yard Sale Pizza, which won Time Out’s Clash of the Slices in 2022.
Where is the cheapest good pizza in London?
Franco Manca’s lunch deal: 12.50 pounds for a sourdough pizza and a soft drink, Monday to Friday between midday and four, at every pizzeria. Add a dessert for 2.50 and it is fifteen pounds for two courses and a drink. It covers pizzas two, four, five and six rather than the whole menu. Students pay 6 pounds.
Can you get pizza in London without booking?
At two of these, reliably. Pizza Pilgrims state that walk ins are always available, and Franco Manca say their pizzerias leave lots of space for walk ins and always will do. Both also take bookings. That combination is unusual in London and makes them the answer when a reservation elsewhere has fallen through.
Where can you eat pizza with a large group in London?
Pizza Pilgrims, which does feasting menus for groups of eight or more from 25 pounds a head, has private event space at several sites including Camden and Canary Wharf, and runs pizza masterclasses you can book for a group. For two people rather than eight, Homeslice’s twenty inch pizzas are designed to be shared with two different halves.
What is the most authentic Neapolitan pizza in London?
Santa Maria makes the most direct claim: that its pizza is exactly the same as the pizza on the streets of Naples, using the same ingredients and the same cooking method, across six London sites. The test is the marinara, which is tomato, garlic and oregano with no cheese at all, and is the oldest Neapolitan pizza there is.
Does Yard Sale Pizza use Deliveroo or Uber Eats?
No, and that is the point of them. They deliver every order themselves through their own in-house service and never through a third party, which is why the pizza arrives in the state it left the oven. Worth knowing about their hours too: most sites do not open until four in the afternoon from Monday to Wednesday.
Is there good vegan pizza in London?
Santa Maria lists three vegan pizzas across its six sites rather than one token option: a vegan margherita, a vegan San Filippo with peppers, courgettes and aubergines, and the marinara, which is vegan by tradition rather than adaptation because it has never had cheese on it.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 105 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
