Liverpool is home to a variety of restaurants where you can tuck into a delicious pizza sprinkled with whichever toppings you fancy.
You'd struggle to find somewhere in the city centre selling a pizza for less than a tenner these days. However, in the late 1980s, Liverpool had a restaurant where you could buy a whole pizza for just 1p.
Pizzaland was founded in London in 1970 and went on to have over 140 branches across the UK. The first to open outside London was in Deansgate, Manchester, and it wasn’t long before Liverpool welcomed its very own Pizzaland.
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The restaurant was in a prime city centre location based on bustling Lime Street. This meant it was easy for families, friends and colleagues to flock to Pizzaland to get a slice of the action after school, work or during a weekend trip into the city.
In 1980, United Biscuits acquired the company from Associated Restaurants/Associated Newspapers. Unfortunately, this was the decade where Pizzaland began to get into trouble. In 1983, a change in senior management and siting policy meant that Pizzaland restaurants were opening in towns that were too small to support them.
In a bid to boost revenues, in the late 1980s the company began the exciting “pizza for a penny” scheme. Discount coupons were put in newspapers for people to cut out and take to their local Pizzaland.
In exchange for the coupon, customers who purchased a pizza could obtain another of equal or lesser value for just 1p. Vouchers offering the same deal were also given directly to customers to use on their next visit to the restaurant.
While the “pizza for a penny” scheme was initially a success, the deal began to backfire by the mid 1990s, as customers would only visit their local branch if they had a coupon to use. It’s believed the scheme was a major catalyst in all UK Pizzalands closing in 1996.
In November 1996, Whitbread bought the Pizzaland chain and turned many of the branches into Pizza Huts. Since the brand's demise, other restaurants that have nothing to do with the original chain have taken the Pizzaland (or Pizza Land) name, leading to the original eatery being forgotten by many.
What are your memories of Pizzaland? Let us know in the comments section below.
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