There are few foods that are as reliably popular with children as pizza. Mine would probably eat it several times a week if I let them, although I draw the line somewhere around having it for breakfast (that’s a lie, I have absolutely eaten cold pizza for breakfast).
So when I heard that Pizza Pilgrims is celebrating the first birthday of its Manchester pizzeria with a new pizza and a weekend of events, it seemed like a fairly good excuse to investigate. It’s also one of the places that comes up when you’re looking for some of the best pizza in Manchester.
The birthday celebrations run from 2 to 4 October, with a new birthday pizza available throughout the month and family activities taking place on Sunday.
So, what’s on the pizza?
The birthday pizza is called the Crafty Grandad.
It has Pizza Pilgrims’ Neapolitan base, tomato sauce, sweet peppers, pork and chilli sausage from Manchester’s Grandad’s Sausages, plus Wakebridge and Garstang Blue cheeses selected by The Crafty Cheeseman.
The two Manchester producers also give it a local connection, rather than it being a random birthday special that could have appeared on the menu anywhere in the country.
Grandad’s Sausages has been making sausages in Manchester for more than a decade, while The Crafty Cheeseman sources artisan cheeses from the UK and beyond.
It sounds like a fairly full-on combination, particularly once you add the chilli sausage and blue cheese. I tend to think pizza is one of those foods where you can go either way: sometimes you want a very simple Margherita, and sometimes you want something piled high with things you wouldn’t necessarily put together at home. This is definitely the latter.
The sweet peppers should give it a bit of sweetness against the salty cheese, while the pork and chilli sausage brings some heat. I’m also intrigued by the choice of two cheeses rather than the usual mozzarella-heavy approach. It sounds like the sort of pizza I’d order when I’m in the mood to try something different rather than playing it safe.
There’s a gluten-free base option available too, which is frankly more advanced planning than I’ve managed for any of my children’s actual birthdays.
And what about the kids?
This is where the birthday weekend gets more interesting if you’re going to Manchester as a family. Sunday 4 October is the family day, with free children’s pizza-making masterclasses taking place in Pizza Pilgrims’ dedicated pizza kitchen located at 105–107 Deansgate.
The children get to make their own pizzas, which is presumably considerably more exciting to them than being told to sit nicely at a table while an adult asks them for the 27th time whether they actually intend to eat their dinner. There will also be face painting from Smudge Facepainting and more family activities during the day. The pizza-making sessions are free, but you’ll need to book and places are limited. I’d check their website for booking details before the event.
There’s a bit of history behind the pizza
Pizza Pilgrims’ beginnings are a little more interesting than your average restaurant origin story. Brothers James and Thom Elliot headed to Italy to learn about Neapolitan pizza, bought a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape and then drove around 4,500km back to London, stopping at pizza destinations along the way.
They called the journey their first “Pilgrimage”. After that came a pizza stall at Berwick Street Market, followed by their first permanent pizzeria in Soho in 2013.
Since then, the brothers have clearly not stopped taking pizza seriously. They headed back to Naples in 2023 to catch up with some of the pizza makers who inspired them in the first place, and Pizza Pilgrims became a certified B Corp the following year. There’s a cookbook now too, Pizza Napoli, published in 2025 and dedicated to the city where the whole thing started. Not bad for a business that began with two brothers and a three-wheeled van.
More than a decade later, that slightly bonkers Italian road trip has led to a Manchester birthday being celebrated with a pizza topped with Manchester sausage and cheese. I think that’s a pretty good full-circle moment.
Pizza, but make it a Manchester day out
If you’re already planning a trip to Manchester in October, the birthday weekend gives you another option for something to do, particularly if you’re bringing the kids along. You can make a day of it without having to plan every minute, with the pizza-making sessions and face painting giving them something to do while you get to enjoy the important part: lunch.
For adults, there’s the music and the new pizza. For families, Sunday has the pizza-making sessions and face painting. And for everyone else, well, there’s pizza. I’m not sure you need a much more complicated itinerary than that.
