New owners of Eddie’s pizzeria want to ‘go back to basics’ with authentic Italian food

THE new owners of a pizzeria have vowed ‘to go back to basics’ by offering traditional Italian woodfired pizzas.

Gary Perkins and Jamie Evans took over Eddie’s Wood Fired Pizza on Borough Road at the beginning of January.

The pizzeria served traditional pizzas but in recent years moved into Spitfire sports bar but the duo are keen to return to the old ethos of Eddies which was named after Ervardo Salza which opened on 2016.

He was originally from South Italy and inspired the pair to set up the authentic Neapolitan pizzeria.

Speaking ahead of the official opening on Friday, Jamie Evans said: “Pizza is a food me and my family have always loved.

“When we moved to Darwen from Bolton in 1994, my mother took a second job at the former Pizza Hot which is now Cavzon and we ate pizza every weekend.

“My family have always been involved at San Remo, a much loved takeaway in Darwen.

“As a young chef I always had dreams of owning my own business, and now I am taking on my third business in three years, I feel the partnership between me and Gary is very healthy, and even though we’ve faced three lockdowns over 10 months, we have somehow managed to find some positivity.

Gary Perkins, aged 39, added “Darwen has so many good take-aways, but nothing that offers authentic Italian wood fired pizza, Darwen bar and leisure business group is the leisure hub in the town.

“We are so excited to get the town opened back up to foodies, drinkers, brunchers, sports fans and players.

“Everyone has missed out so much over the past year, we just want to give everyone something to look forward to, and whilst ‘the new Eddie’s’ will offer some unique take away experience, we are still looking forward to welcoming everyone to an open Darwen where they can enjoy every aspect of what Darwen bars and leisure group has to offer.

“With that said, take away food is the new normal during lockdown and that has allowed us to concentrate on Eddie’s and fine tune our efforts into that.

“So we can’t wait for the relaunch and to serve delicious pizzas to customers old and new.”

They have decided to create pizzas with sourdough crust, simple good quality ingredients and cooked the traditional Italian way in a wood fired oven.

The main changes on the menu to mention is that we are offering a Vegan Pizza, complete with vegan mozzarella and our signature pizza will be our Margherita, which Jamie says ‘done correctly, is the pizza lovers pizza’.

They are importing authentic Italian ingredients, to produce authentic pizzas, cooked in our authentic oven..

Jamie, 31, added: “Our tag line for the campaign is ‘back to basics’ as we feel Eddie’s lost it’s identity over the last 12 months, and in order for us to put that right, we need to go ‘back to basics’. Which is about respecting the heritage of the business and respecting Eddie’s loyal customers’

Jamie has great experience in the trade after opening a successful restaurant business at The Dog Inn, Belthorn, and more recently at The Bank Bar and Kitchen

Meanwhile Gary owns The Bank Bar and Kitchen, The Taps Bar, Spitfire Sports Bar, The Vault, all of which are part of the Darwen bars and leisure group.