What did Blue plaque № 12760 do at Gerrard Street?

The Story

# Blue Plaque № 12760: Gerrard Street Standing on Gerrard Street in London's vibrant Soho district, you're looking at the birthplace of a culinary revolution that transformed British dining forever. In 1965, when Peter Boizot opened the first Pizza Express in this very building, pizza was virtually unknown to London's mainstream diners—a curious Italian curiosity confined to immigrant communities. What began here as a modest experiment in bringing authentic, wood-fired pizza to ordinary Londoners became the blueprint for a restaurant empire that would eventually span hundreds of locations across the UK and beyond. This unassuming address on Gerrard Street is where Boizot proved that Londoners didn't just want pizza—they craved it—and in doing so, fundamentally rewrote the story of British restaurant culture, making casual Italian dining accessible to everyone who walked through those doors.