Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The man behind one of London’s most successful pizza operations, Crisp Pizza, started out in Hammersmith in 2017 with no experience as a chef or making pizza other than what he’d learned on a three-week course.
“I was in a weird place back then,” says Carl McCluskey, 38. After a series of odd jobs in his 20s and time spent playing semi-pro football for teams such as Wealdstone, McCluskey had started working at The Chancellors pub, run by his grandmother. “I knew I was going to end up running it because it was a family business,” he says. “But it wasn’t making any money.” And so he took the chance to add a pizza offering alongside.
McCluskey had been watching documentaries on YouTube and been inspired by a place called Lucali, in Brooklyn, New York. “This guy had never made pizza before,” he says. “He saw this shop in his old neighbourhood. Bought it. Started making pizza. Hit it off straight away.”
McCluskey took out a loan, did a pizza-making course, went to New York and Naples for research, and bought a Gozney oven. “Then I made pizza every day for the next two years,” he says. He experimented with different flours, water temperatures and ratios and came up with his own formula: “Thin blistered pizza that looks Neapolitan but isn’t. That tastes crisp [like New York pizza] but not cardboard crisp. That still has a chew and uses the best Italian produce.” In 2021, he started selling them at the pub in earnest. Word spread thanks in part to food influencers like Taste Cadets. Then in 2022 a stunning review from American YouTuber Dave Portnoy changed everything. “The calls started coming in,” says McCluskey. “’People over from America. People queueing up early.” Soon they were making up to 500 pizzas a day and turning people away.
Now Crisp Pizza is moving to a new location helped by the team behind The Devonshire in Soho. Together, the group are reopening The Marlborough pub (formerly Marlborough Head) in Mayfair, a stone’s throw from Selfridges. Previously owned by Greene King brewery, the site on North Audley Street has been home to a public house since 1758 but fell vacant in 2020. Following a refurb and redesign, the upstairs will remain a traditional wet-led pub with standing room and seating. As with The Devonshire, Guinness will be a big draw. Downstairs, a dimly lit space modelled on a New York speakeasy is the new home of Crisp Pizza, with restaurant-style seating for 60.
McCluskey first visited the Mayfair site in 2023 “as a joke” but saw the potential instantly: “A pub upstairs and this basement could be my Lucali.” Grosvenor, which manages the property, encouraged him to make an offer on the lease. “Most of the pubs in London are owned by big breweries,” says McCluskey. “As an independent, you can never turn down the opportunity to own a generations-old pub like this.” When McCluskey’s original partner pulled out, The Devonshire team – who were industry buddies – stepped up. “We really believe in Carl’s pizzas,” says Oisín Rogers of The Devonshire. “And as someone from a pub culture, Carl shares our values.”
Prices have increased slightly at the new site, but the menu, except for a few extra salads and sides, remains the same: eight 12in “traditional pies” including cheese, pepperoni and funghi (from £12), two 14in “bar pies” that are thinner and crispier (from £16), and one calzone (£16.50). You can also pre-order the double-baked rectangular “grandma” versions of most traditional pies (from £34). I tried the Vecna, the most popular order. Topped with San Marzano tomato, pepperoni, burrata and hot honey, it’s a sweet, salty, gooey slice that calls for glugs of cold beer. I also had the Crisp W6, an elegant pie with a mountain load of buffalo mozzarella and pecorino shavings that would pair nicely with an Aperol Spritz.
McCluskey is taking this opportunity to “elevate” his tomato sauce (“we cook it for three hours but I want a bit more flavour”) and bring in some finer cheeses. But he insists the experience won’t be getting fancier. “We want to bring the humble atmosphere of our backstreet pub in Hammersmith to this part of town,” he says. “Good beer, the best Guinness and sport – that’s not a thing in Mayfair but watching the football makes it somewhere I want to be.”
