Pete Boizot was one of Peterborough’s great originals: an entrepreneur, philanthropist, arts supporter, football club owner, jazz lover and passionate champion of his home city.
Born in Peterborough in 1929, Peter James Boizot grew up in the city and attended The King’s School, where he was head boy and sang in the choir at Peterborough Cathedral. He later studied history at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, before spending time in Europe — an experience that would shape one of Britain’s best-known restaurant brands.
In 1965, after returning to London and struggling to find the kind of authentic pizza he had enjoyed abroad, Boizot opened the first PizzaExpress in Wardour Street, Soho. The restaurant helped transform casual dining in Britain, combining good food with design, art, music and a sense of informality that felt fresh and continental. He also became the first person to import Peroni into the UK, and his restaurants became known not only for pizza, but for jazz clubs, striking interiors and walls filled with contemporary art.
Yet for all his national success, Boizot never lost his connection to Peterborough. Locally, he became known as “Mr Peterborough” because of the energy, money and belief he invested back into the city. In 1993 he bought and modernised the Great Northern Hotel, one of the city’s landmark buildings beside the railway station. In 1996 he acquired the former Odeon cinema and transformed it into a multi-purpose entertainment venue, helping to keep live performance and cultural activity alive in the city centre. In 1997, he bought Peterborough United Football Club and invested significantly in its revival.
Boizot’s interests stretched far beyond business. He was a lifelong supporter of the arts, a passionate jazz fan, an art collector, a Liberal Party campaigner, and a philanthropist. His PizzaExpress Veneziana pizza was created to raise funds for Venice in Peril, supporting the restoration of art and architecture in Venice; the initiative went on to raise more than £2 million.
Pete Boizot died at his home in Peterborough in 2018, aged 89. His legacy can still be felt across the city: in its hospitality, its cultural life, its footballing memories and its continuing belief that Peterborough deserves ambition, creativity and confidence. He was more than the founder of PizzaExpress. He was a Peterborian who took ideas from the world, made them his own, and brought that spirit back home.