Common Pizza has become a crowd favourite in Clapham, and their new Lordship Lane branch offers an all day dining experience, writes Oliver London…
From 8am-3pm the restaurant operates as The Daily Tray, a neighbourhood inspired Deli/Diner before transforming at 3pm to become Common Pizza, serving slim-NYC from £11 and deep-pan Detroit style pizzas from £15.
But the restaurant does not just simply swap out the menus. It changes its branding, signage, lighting, and music when Common Pizza begins its daily service.
This is the latest venture by restaurateur Ollie Norcliffe, the brains behind Ollie’s House in Chelsea and the original Common Pizza in Clapham Common.
Speaking about the launch of the concept, Norcliffe said: “East Dulwich has a really strong daytime presence with families, whilst the pubs are packed at night, making it a great opportunity to test this concept.
“In order to have a successful restaurant business, you really need to capitalise on day and evening since it is so hard to keep a restaurant sustainable by just focusing on one part of the day.”
Despite the different identities and menus between the two arms of the restaurant, they intelligently utilise mutual ingredients in their dishes, as their homemade focaccia is used for the Daily Tray’s toasties and Common Pizza’s Detroit pizzas.
Before founding the Common Pizza brand, Norcliffe visited 29 New York pizza restaurants in the four days to learn the craft of authentic American pizza.
Meanwhile, The Daily Tray is prioritises being an affordability, featuring £5 greasy spoons favourites and deli specials.
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Ollie Norcliffe said: “There’s so many fancy cafes out there charging a fortune for Avo and eggs, I don’t wanna do that.”
The restaurant is open from 8am to 10:30pm Monday to Thursday, 8am-11:30pm on Friday, 9am to 11.30pm on Saturday and Sunday 9am to 10:30pm and can be found at 99 Lordship Lane, SE22 9DQ, you can contact the restaurant at @TheDailyTrayUK
