A lost pizza restaurant chain known for its "all you can eat" deals was a familiar fixture on Merseyside for years.
Back in the 90s, the Deep Pan Pizza Company was one of the go-to places for a pizza. Once one of the largest pizza restaurant groups, it had chains all over the UK and was an ideal destination for cinema goers or families looking for a weekend treat.
Known for its "all you can eat" deals, the business didn't only offer deep pan pizzas, but also thin crust options. Customers could also order the likes of deep pan dippers to start, an array of pastas, salads and different chocolate and ice-cream desserts.
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Instantly recognisable to pedestrians and drivers, Deep Pan Pizza had bold and bright red and yellow logos and décor. Inside, groups would be shown to an American-style booths and could also watch "the latest music videos" on TV screens.
In Liverpool itself, many will remember chains at Edge Lane and on Stonedale Retail and Leisure Park off East Lancashire Road. Images, rediscovered from our archive, show the Merseyside branches in years gone by.
In September 1991, a £2 opening offer coupon was printed in the Liverpool ECHO, offering £2 off any medium or large pizza using the voucher at Stonedale Retail and Leisure Park. The advertisement said it offered takeaway service, an "excellent" children's menu with main courses only 99p, "delicious freshly prepared pizza" - deep pan or thin crust, the latest music videos on screen, a self service salad bar and that it had a license to serve wine and lager.
On May 25, 1996, another Liverpool ECHO advertisement was also published to coincide with Deep Pan Pizza launching its children's menu. At the time, the Lego £2.95 fun meal offered a choice of pizza, fish fingers and chicken nuggets and children received a free Lego toy worth approximately £2 from a range of three to collect.
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Years later in the early noughties, Jane Wolstenholme reviewed the Edge Lane chain. In December 2000, she said: " The restaurant is bright, roomy and pleasant — although the choice of tunes for the afternoon - a heady mixture which included I Thought I Saw A Pussy Cat - wasn't exactly to my taste.
"On scouring the menu I found the choice was actually far greater than I'd expected for a pizza place. Even the starters menu is pretty extensive - you can choose everything from your basic Garlic Bread (£2.20) to a plate of Nachos Grande (£2.75). As well as the pizzas there are a number of Italian-style main courses, such as Spaghetti Bolognese and Tagliatelle Al Pollo."
For mains, Jane chose The Latino Lite for £4.49, which was a super-thin crust topped with jalapenos and jack cheese, whereas her mum ordered a pizza called Catch Of The Day, which consisted of tuna, prawns and anchovies for £5.75 and her nephews enjoyed seven and a half inch Margarita pizzas for £4.99 each.
In April 2003, Rachael Tinniswood checked out the American-styled Deep Pan Pizza Co in Stonedale Retail Park and said the service was "just as good as the food." At the time, starters ranged from £2.29 to £5.99, pasta dishes from £5.69 to £6.99 and pizzas from £4.99 to £12.99.
She said: "Well the setting may be basic, but if what you're after is the best kind of comfort food, it's actually very good. In keeping with the movie feel, the restaurant is set out in series of booths - very American.
"As we were shown to our table (yes, this is the kind of establishment where you have to wait to be seated), a comfortable booth wide enough to give us plenty of leg room - and enough space between us and the next table to ensure we weren't disturbing each other. Expecting very little choice (you know the type of menu - margherita, pepperoni, or if you are feeling really adventurous, pepperoni with peppers as well), I was delighted to find I couldn't even make a choice from the wide range on offer.
"And it wasn't just pizza. The starters sounded delicious, and there were also a number of pasta dishes which included Spicy Chicken and Pepperoni Arrabiata (£6.99) and Penne Vegetarian Pasta Bake (£5.69). Although the desserts - many of which revolved around ice-cream and chocolate - sounded delicious, we were far too full to even think of attempting them."
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But despite offering "all you can eat" deals for years, by 1998 it was announced that the Deep Pan Pizza restaurants were set to disappear from the high street, The Independent previously reported. At the time, there were 89 Deep Pan Pizza restaurants around the UK and City Centre Restaurants, which owned the chain, decided to scrap the Deep Pan Pizza name and create a new upmarket chain of pizza restaurants, as well as sell some sites or convert them to other restaurant brands.
At the time, James Naylor, chief executive of City Centre, said: "The brand was becoming dated. Thin crust pizzas are becoming more popular, with fewer people eating deep pan."
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Frankie & Benny's, who were owned by the same company, shortly started replacing a number of the sites, including on Merseyside in the noughties. In April 2005, the ECHO reported how the New York-style Italian restaurant brand was opening its first Liverpool outlet on Edge Lane Retail Park on May 9, creating about 45 new jobs in the former Deep Pan Pizza site.
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