The Irish in Britain, including those of Irish descent, make up a significant part of the UK population. Here, you will find news, entertainment, events, sports and features from the local Irish Post newspaper.

By Niamh Hennessy

IRISH-made pizzas are now being sold in the world-famous Harrods store in London.

The Cork-based Alternative Pizza Company which produces hand-made pizzas has just succeeded in achieving a product listing in the food hall in the posh Knightsbridge store.

The Alternative Pizza Company was started two years ago by David Flynn a chef who loved cooking food with simple natural ingredients.

The company finished last year with sales over £700,000 and it expects this volume to increase significantly this year.

Harrods is the second British retailer to list the Alternative Pizza Company’s products following on from Fresh And Wild the upmarket fresh food specialist retailer who have been stocking the company’s products for the past five months.

The Harrods food hall will carry four of the company’s products including the Hot Chilli pizza and the award- winning Four Irish Cheeses pizza.

Recipes which include a bacon and cabbage pizza are developed by David who said his children have been eating bacon and cabbage ever since he developed that one.

Managing director Martin Hanan said the recent listings with Harrods and Fresh And Wild provided the first big break for the company into the British market.

He said: “Fresh And Wild is a very interesting outlet. Everybody is watching what it is doing at the moment.

“We are the only pizza company currently supplying it and we are hoping to leverage a lot more business from this. Britain is where the big prize is for us and we can use Fresh And Wild as a shop window for our product here.

“We use only the finest Irish ingredients with no artificial preservatives, colourings or additives. People care about what they are eating today and we have positioned ourselves in the super premium market in response to this trend.”

Martin sees huge potential for growth in the coming years.

He said: “In Ireland the total frozen pizza market is estimated to be worth £44.6million annually.”

He adds that figures from the British Frozen Food Federation show that a quarter-of-a-billion frozen pizzas are sold each year in Britain.

“We see a gap in the market for a super premium pizza product and we intend to fill it,” said Martin.

Sales projections for 2007 in Britain are forecast at £200,000 and Martin said that towards the middle of 2007 the company may look at setting up a new manufacturing base in the British market.