Refurbished city sarnie shop is keen to grab a pizza the action!
OWNER DENISE DAVIES TELLS RACHEL LAWTON SHE’S GLAD TO BE BACK IN BUSINESS
ASANDWICH shop has reopened after a two-week makeover. Pittshill Sandwich and Oatcake Bar, in St Michael’s Road, Pittshill, has gone back to its roots and reinstated its traditional layout.
The new-look shop has expanded its menu to include pizzas, including a breakfast pizza, which is available alongside its mega breakfast box and ultimate oatcake.
Owner Denise Davies is excited to welcome customers back. She decided that after three years at the helm of the shop, it was time for a makeover to give herself and her team more space.
Denise said: “The old owners still had their stamp on it, so we decided to really make it our own and have a proper makeover.
“Customers had been asking us to do pizzas for a while, and at first we didn’t think we’d ever do it, but we realised that we need to keep up with the times and keep up with what customers want from us, so now we have a double pizza oven.
“We are really enjoying the new space, and the new things that we are able to offer. We’ve just launched our breakfast pizza, which I haven’t seen anywhere else, but that is available now and is on the menu alongside our mega breakfast box and ultimate oatcake.
“We’ve also got new extractor fans, PVC plastic on the worktops to make cleaning easier, and it just generally looks so much nicer. It’s absolutely lovely inside and we’re really enjoying the new space. I can’t thank everyone enough for their help.” The shop closed for two weeks for the refurbishment, and during that time Denise went into hospital for eye surgery, which is why she has to wear sunglasses at the moment.
She added: “The shop has always been an oatcake shop, well before we took over, and we have gone back to the old layout that the shop used to have. Now we have been able to use the extra space that we have to prepare fresh food in the front of the shop.
“I’m very chatty, so it means that if I’m cooking in the kitchen or out the front, I’m able to speak to the customers when they come in.
“I always make it a point of having a good chat with everyone who comes in. For some people, you might be the only person that they speak to that day, so I always make the effort.
“I love my little job and the community we have. We are very much a community business and we have our regulars, so part of the reason why we did the makeover was to give something back to them.”
Former school cleaner Denise admits that at the start of the pandemic, she wasn’t sure what the future held for the shop.
She said: “At the start of the pandemic we didn’t really know what was going to happen. Originally we thought we’d have to shut, and we did for a week or so, but luckily our customers kept us going and kept us in business.
“We have had to change a lot of what we do, and we’ve had to adapt. Cleaning has always been a big part of the job, well before covid, but this past year I’ve never done so much!
“We have masks available for customers who forget theirs, and we’ve even got umbrellas that we pass out to people if they have to wait outside in the rain, which are then cleaned after every use.
“Our customers are really good and they always keep their distance and take all the precautions to help us keep everyone safe. The Covid marshals have visited the shop and checked everything out, and they said we’ve thought of everything.
“A lot of people are still too scared to head out so I just want to let them know that if they need anything, to get in touch with me, even if it’s just a bottle of milk or something from the shop. I’m happy to get it for them and deliver it while we’re out doing deliveries, to save them having to leave the house.
“We can always go a little bit further. We’re more than just a bacon butty, we want to be there for the local community.” n You can keep up with Pittshill Sandwich and Oatcake Bar on their Facebook page.