Sunderland's new Slice pizza place has bumper opening weekend

A sister site to the popular Slice Seaham, Slice Sunderland opened in Market Square on Friday, August 11 after transforming the former Meet & Eat unit which had stood empty for some time.

And it proved a huge hit with 2,000 slices sold on Friday and Saturday.

It’s one in a number of independent businesses who are breathing new life into the city centre and owners Andy Smith and Mark Milroy say they’re delighted with the response.

"The response has been unbelievable,” said Andy. “On the first day the team learnt so quickly. We knew there would be a few teething problems, but we didn’t expect how popular the place would be so instantly.

"On the Saturday, the team really dialled everything in and we got the speed and tempo right.”

Slice had already built up a Sunderland audience at its former premises at the Vaux Taproom, but moved to a larger unit in the city centre, creating eight new jobs, to offer a regular daily offering.

Andy added: “A lot of people are saying the place has a real buzz about it which is great and we want to send a message to other businesses that it’s worth investing in Sunderland city centre. If you have the right product and the right price point, the people of Sunderland will step up and support.”

Slice is aimed at providing slices of pizza to grab and go priced from £3 a slice but, if you’re hungry enough, you can order a full 24in pizza.

There’s four staple choices – margherita, pepperoni, bolognese and cheesy garlic bread – as well as specials which change weekly, loaded fries and meal deals where you can pick up any slice, seasoned fries and a can of pop for £6.50.

Rather than being a sit-in restaurant, Slice Sunderland is aimed at city centre workers and shoppers wanting to grab food on the go, however, there is a couple of window seats for those wanting to sit in.

It’s a daytime offering and is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm.

Last week also saw the opening of the new German Doner Kebab, a rapidly-expanding global chain which has opened next to the Shelter shop on High Street West.

Queues were also seen out of the doors on the first couple of days with people hungry to get their kebab fix.

Other activity in this corner of the city centre includes the new train station entrance due to welcome its first travellers in autumn and the former JJB building which is being turned into a nightclub and cocktail bar with a view to creating a rooftop bar also.

The council is also drumming up support to build a second and larger entrance to the train station which would transform the nearby Poundland site and create more of a link with the transport hub and the emerging central business district.

The wider Riverside £500m scheme, hailed as one of the most ambitious regeneration projects in the country, is aimed at having more people living and working in the city centre.