Rudy’s Pizza

Rudy’s is where it all started. The original Ancoats location on Cotton Street is the one that launched a pizza empire across Manchester, and it’s still the best. Proper Neapolitan pizza – blistered, leopard-spotted crust from a blisteringly hot wood-fired oven, San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte, and toppings that don’t mess about. The Margherita is perfect. The nduja is filthy good. Keep it simple and let the dough do the talking.

There are no bookings. That’s the deal. You queue up on Cotton Street, usually for about twenty to forty minutes depending on when you arrive, and honestly it’s become part of the experience. Grab a beer from the bar while you wait, chat to the people around you, and know that when you finally sit down, you’re getting one of the best pizzas in the country for under a tenner. The space is stripped back and loud – tiled walls, open kitchen, communal energy. Rudy’s Ancoats is a Manchester institution and it earned every bit of that reputation.