Nell’s is a family run business, operated by husband and wife team Jonny and Charlotte Heyes. The name is derived from the initials of their kids’ names, Nell, Edith, and Lenny. It is a real passion project, born from a love of pizza and the joy of making, and baking by hand.

After identifying that most pizza available in the UK is Neapolitan style, the aim was for Nell’s to bring some diversity. Jonny developed the concept over 18 months, researching, trialling, and travelling around Brooklyn sampling the best slices that NYC had to offer.

Nell’s is, quite simply, about the best dough and the best ingredients, treated with care and attention. The dough is slow-fermented over 36 hours to allow for the perfect combination of strength for folding and lightness for enjoyment. They use 100% British organic flour from Shipton Mill, local cheese sourced from the Crafty Cheeseman, British meat from Littlewoods Butchers and charcuterie from London based, Cobble Lane Cured.

A big part of the drive behind Nell’s was to create a food business which was more gentle on the environment. Nell’s is an environmentally friendly model, using less power, creating less waste, using less meat and using local and responsible British suppliers.

Jonny and Charlotte have worked in the Manchester hospitality scene for over 15 years and run Northern Quarter institution Common, along with Port Street Beer House, The Beagle in Chorlton and Sadler’s Yard based The Pilcrow. They, alongside their team, are also behind two annual beer festivals, Indy Man Beer Con and Summer Beer Thing.

The intention was that in 2020, they would take on a new site which Nell’s would sit alongside, as an eat-in and takeaway slice bar. The onset of Covid-19 changed all that and, following a fairly major pivot during lockdown, Nell’s was launched from Common in May 2020, before opening up a second site at The Beagle in December 2020.