Best Pizza in Newcastle City Centre

Ten years ago a pizza in the middle of Newcastle meant a chain on the edge of a shopping centre or a box from a late-night counter. That has changed. The centre now has a proper spread of pizza specialists, and what makes it interesting is the range of styles: soft Neapolitan rounds, Detroit pan pizza, Chicago deep dish, New York slices and a thin, crisp Italian base down in the Ouseburn.

This guide sticks to places where pizza is the point rather than one line on a long Italian menu. Every one of them holds the top food hygiene rating of five from its most recent inspection.

Neapolitan on Grey Street

Rudy's

Rudy's is the Manchester pizzeria that has grown well beyond its home city on one simple formula: soft, blistered Neapolitan pizza at prices that keep it an easy weeknight choice. The Newcastle branch occupies 27-31 Grey Street, one of the grandest stretches of Grainger's town, and it is one of the newer arrivals on the street.

It opens from late morning until ten through the week and nine on a Sunday, takes bookings for small and large groups, and has a separate vegan range made the same way as the main menu.

Best for: A proper Neapolitan pizza in the middle of town without spending much.

Pizza Punks

Pizza Punks, a few doors down at 34-40 Grey Street, is the Glasgow-born chain built around a build-your-own format: pick your base, sauce and cheese, then pile on as many toppings as you like for one fixed price. It moved into the former Café Rouge unit in Gainsborough House in 2018.

The room is loud and the playlist louder, and it stays open until eleven on Friday and Saturday, which makes it a natural before-the-night-out stop for groups.

Best for: Groups who all want something different on their pizza.

Slices and squares

Square

Square on Market Street makes Detroit-style pizza: dough proved for 48 hours, baked deep and square in blue steel pans so the cheese caramelises into a crunchy edge, with the sauce on top. It sells it by the slice or as a full pie.

It is a small counter operation by Monument, so walk-ins are welcome and you can reserve a counter seat; parties of five or more need to phone ahead. It opens from noon every day, until half nine most nights and ten at the weekend.

Best for: The crispiest crust in the city, by the slice or by the pan.

Slice

Slice is a stall in Alley 4 of the Grainger Market selling big slices of pizza and mini calzones from a counter. It is one of the best-reviewed food traders in the market and about as close as Newcastle gets to grabbing a slice on the street.

It keeps market hours, so this is lunch rather than dinner, and the market does not trade on a Sunday. The rest of the market is covered in our guide to shopping in Newcastle city centre.

Best for: A cheap, quick lunch while you are in town shopping.

Scream for Pizza

Scream for Pizza started as a pizza van in 2014 and became a Sandyford restaurant, but in the centre you will find it in two places. There is a counter on the Quayside at 31 Quayside, across the water from the Glasshouse, and a kitchen inside Freight Island on Newgate Street, where it serves New York-style pizza on chewy crusts or thin sourdough bases.

Freight Island only opens from Thursday to Sunday, so check before heading there for a midweek slice.

Best for: New York-style pizza with a food hall and a crowd around it.

Something different

Sanco

Sanco on Forth Banks, behind Central Station, opened in October 2025 and has no menu at all. You switch on the light at your table and the pizzaioli keep bringing slices of whatever has just come out of the wood-fired Gozney oven, some familiar and some wildcard, until you switch it off. The dough is made on site every day with Caputo flour and San Marzano tomatoes.

It is a fixed price per head (£24 for adults and £11.50 for under-11s including a soft drink at the time of writing), with a cheaper weekday lunch deal. It is a five-minute walk from the Utilita Arena, and arena ticket holders get 10% off on event days.

Best for: Big appetites, families, and anyone who cannot decide what to order.

Pigalo's at Louie's

Pigalo's made its name in North Shields when it added Chicago deep dish to a burger menu, and since autumn 2025 it has served its pizza inside Louie's Liquor Store, a blues-themed bar at 11 Bigg Market. The move was billed as the first time Chicago-style deep dish had been available in Newcastle.

Deep dish is closer to a pie than a pizza, a thick, cheese-heavy bake that takes time to cook, so expect to wait. Opening times follow the bar, so check its social channels before going.

Best for: A deep dish with a drink in a late-night bar.

Down in the Ouseburn

Gingerino's

Gingerino's at 8 Stepney Bank is a small, family-feeling pizzeria in the Ouseburn valley, a ten-minute walk downhill from the centre. It goes for thin, crisp, stone-baked pizza in the Italian style, using 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes and fior di latte.

It opens every day from lunchtime until nine in the evening (eight on a Sunday), and pairs well with an afternoon at Ouseburn Farm or the pubs along the valley. Several of those are in our guide to the best pubs in Newcastle city centre.

Best for: A relaxed, unfussy pizza after a wander round the Ouseburn.

Picking the right one

For a sit-down Neapolitan, Rudy's is the easy answer. For a counter slice, Square and Slice cover different ends of the day. For something you will talk about afterwards, Sanco's light-switch system is unlike anything else in the city. If you would rather eat on the sofa, our guide to the best takeaways in Newcastle city centre covers what delivers well.

Opening hours and prices change, especially at the smaller places, so check before setting off, particularly on a match day at St James' Park, when everywhere in the centre fills up from lunchtime.

Know a city-centre pizza we have missed? Get in touch via our contact page.