New rustic Italian restaurant The Pizza Yard opens its doors

Dad-of-two Ben Hall, who opened his first foodie venture Benny’s sandwich shop on Caldervale Road in 2021, has now opened The Pizza Yard, describing it as the ‘home of Wakefield’s Neapolitan style pizzas.’

Ben, with wife Lucie and his two young daughters, Lily and Martha, said it’s always been a dream to open his own restaurant and at Christmas, that dream started to become a reality.

Ben said: “I’ve always wanted a restaurant, but when we opened Benny’s we said we would make that our soul focus for two to three years, but at Christmas we were having a meal with friends in a restaurant in Harrogate and they said, ‘You could do this’. That’s when it clicked.

"I went online and started looking for the right property straight away – we looked around building in January, got the keys on February 1 and opened on February 22.”

The Pizza Yard, at 212-214 Kirkgate, is now open Wednesday to Friday, 5pm to 10pm, Saturday 12pm-11pm and Sunday 12pm to 9pm.

Ben said: “We've spent the last few weeks transforming a dark, tired and worn out restaurant into a fresh, rustic, Mediterranean inspired place where diners can enjoy a relaxed atmosphere, amazing food and a great range of drinks.

"The location was a no-brainer with the launch of Tile Yard North and the improvement works planned for Kirkgate and the building instantly sold itself with its rustic charm and character.”

And the restaurant has already earned itself a five star rating from the Food Hygiene inspector – matching top marks given to Benny’s sandwich shop.

Ben said: “We offer a different menu than other restaurants in town, from good Italian to the New Yorker pizza and use the best quality ingredients.

"We’ll also be offering a bottomless brunch on Saturdays from March 18 and have live music on Sundays. There are midweek offers and onsite customer parking.”