By Oliver Farrimond
A DISGRUNTLED restaurant owner has launched a pizza protest against disruptive tram works in Edinburgh.
Staff at Italian eatery La Piazza have begun producing the one-off dish to mark their frustration with the project.
The Pothole Pizza features a large hole in the centre, which owner Tony Pia says is a symbol of the council’s “half-hearted, badly thought out and poorly-finished” trams project.
Mr Pia, 33, said: “I want the council to know that we have survived the trams shambles despite best efforts to make life as difficult as possible.
“A ruined pizza like this is the perfect reminder of what they have delivered up to businesses across this city – something half-hearted, badly thought out and poorly finished.
“The trams have really had an enormous impact on my business – it’s like the recession has been extended for two years.
“It’s time we showed the council that this is not acceptable and that we’re not going down without a fight.
“It’s important that we have a voice and I think anything – even sending pizza – to get the council’s attention and show them we’re still here is really important.”
The Shandwick Place eatery has also produced two similar pizzas, designed to highlight the difficulties faced by businesses in the worst-affected areas of Edinburgh.
Christened the Haymarket Blues and the Leith Walk Siciliana, the pungent pizzas feature gorgonzola and mozzarella, and anchovies and capers.
La Piazza restaurant manager Walter Guidice said: “After the council made such a stink of this area of town we thought this pizza deserved some more fish ingredients.
“Everyone knows how awful Haymarket was to get through so this pizza is a reminder of how low the city feels.”
Disruptive
Many business owners in Leith Walk and Haymarket have complained of the disruptive influence of Edinburgh’s trams project.
Mandy Haeburn-Little, director of customer services at Edinburgh Trams said: “We’re all for businesses coming up with innovative ideas to increase sales, however from the description these sound more like large doughnuts rather than pizzas!
“Since tramworks began we have undertaken to support those businesses adversely affected by tramworks, this has included implementing two support schemes for traders.
“This issue has not been raised with us, but if a trader wishes to discuss their concerns over elements of any work to date our door is always open.”
