Purezza takes Northern Quarter space for Manchester bow

The vegan pizza chain has opened its doors, following the agreement of a 10-year lease for Kamani Property’s 75-77 High Street. It has sublet part of the 8,000 sq ft space to cocktail bar Lonocove.

Launched in Brighton in 2015 as Europe’s first vegan pizzeria, Purezza has taken over the space formerly occupied by the Dough pizza restaurant and Apotheca bar.

The sites had previously been run by the same operator with the back of house area interconnected. The adjacent Apotheca, which fronts Thomas Street, has now been separated to create an independent bar and sub-let to Lonocove, which is scheduled to open this month.

Sixteen Real Estate advised Purezza. Director Alex Haigh said: “The brief from Purezza had been for a prominent site in a high footfall location which was ideally already trading as a restaurant.

“Purezza has completed an extensive refurbishment which looks excellent and has traded well since opening. Manchester was targetted as a key location for their latest restaurant due to the size and quality of the vegan food scene. They had received so many requests from existing customers to open in the city and they felt strongly that these could not be ignored.

“The whole property was too large for a pizza restaurant, but we were confident the cocktail bar element could be sublet quickly. We had a number of established operators who expressed interest in the space, but the design from Lonocove stood out as being highly impressive.’

Purezza has opened in Camden, Bristol and Hove since its Brighton launch.

Co-owner Tim Barclay said: “Manchester has been on our agenda for years now. We’ve had more requests to open in Manchester than any other city in the UK, and it’s truly a pleasure to honour those requests and to finally make it happen.”