STROUD’S newest pizzeria, Crust Issues, was launched earlier this year by local chef Tom Weavin.

Tom took over the former Fat Toni’s premises on Gloucester Street on April 12 and his pizzas are proving very popular.

In fact, he says his bases are so tasty that people who dislike eating pizza crusts will be converted.

After being trained by and working for fellow Cotswold pizza gurus Baz and Fred for a number of years at events across the south of England, Tom eventually headed up the pizza department at their first permanent site in London Bridge in 2016.

In late 2018 he launched his own mobile pizza venture, but due to the pandemic he was forced to cancel a whole summer of event bookings for what was shaping up to be a busy second year.

It was then that he decided to head back home to Gloucestershire and set up his own place.

Crust Issues serves pizzas made from a protein rich flour and a long, cool fermentation period of 48-72 hours, which Tom says creates "bubbly, crackled pizzas with borders to convert even the die-hard never-crusters".

The Crust Issues’ menus change week by week and are updated on their Instagram, website, and via QR codes in their window, though favourites return regularly.

The most ordered pizzas include: the Pep-talk, with pepperoni and house candied jalapeños, the She-talk, with umami rich shiitake mushrooms, smoked garlic and toum (a lebanese garlic/oil emulsion), garlic bread with Fontal cheese and Marmite, and the Sauspicious, which features a white base with local hickory smoked sausage meat, pickled red onion and friarielli, which for the uninitiated is marinated turnip tops (not dissimilar to purple sprouting broccoli).

Vegan cheese and veggie options are always available too, with home-made vegan cheese, candied jalapenos and umami shiitake mushrooms along with a range of other plant-based toppings.

Soon they will be launching their lunch offering of filled bagels and coffee, and are looking to expand their delivery range.

Details via: crustissues.co.uk