Site, Todmorden

It’s hard to believe, I know, but Todmorden is becoming so cool it’s hurting the ends of my fingers. I know! Tod! Hebden’s slightly scruffy, bad sister! Newest on the scene is Site, a pizza place/cafe/bar run by a couple of fab women and some interesting chefs. Interesting in that they have a tale to tell, none of them are trained chefs but all of them know how to throw dough.

Owners Natalie and Olly slaved for three years – and I mean proper hard, dirty graft – pulling an old tailor’s shop apart, re-building and renovating from the ground up using every found/up-cycled/vintage/skip dived item they could get their calloused hands on. Result? One of the most stylish (but comfortable) spaces we’ve seen in a while. A bit of Ercol here, some bashed up steel sheeting there, rustic tables made out of scaffolding, mid-century modern stools scored on Ebay, all brought together with no small amount of brio.

Genuinely good pizzas appear out of a state-of-the-art wood fired oven; the chorizo, ham and chilli is a belter. Quarter them, fold them and eat with your fingers washed down with a fruity Puglian Primitivo. Like us, you’ll have to keep checking you’re on Rochdale Road and not on some street corner in Naples.