Community celebrate 50 years of Kettering family-run pizza restaurant Frank's

Pizza lovers have gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary this month of Frank’s – a legendary restaurant that has served thousands of wood-fired delicacies.

The legendary restaurant first brought the secret family recipe to the backstreets of Kettering taking over a greasy spoon cafe in Havelock Street in 1972.

Using a recipe handed down through the generations, the pizzeria was the idea of Francesco ‘Frank’ Angieri and has been in family hands ever since.

Granddaughter Cat Angieri said: “It’s been nice to get together. We have had so much support it’s been really, really lovely.”

The pizzeria was the brainchild of Francesco Angieri, who came to the UK in 1953 aged 19 and had a contract in a brick company.

He couldn’t read or write but had plenty of ambition and wanted to build a better life for himself and his family.

After the birth of children Pasquale, Raffaello and Nancy with wife Caterina, the family settled in Kettering in 1971 when Frank found the property on the corner of Havelock Street and Nelson Street.

Frank’s first opened as a cafe in 1972, serving local factory workers, but diversified to evening opening to sell their pizzas full-time.

The only ‘fast food available had been fish and chips and Frank’s prediction that pizzas would be ‘sold everywhere’ came true.

Frank died in 1994 just after his 60th birthday, with Caterina passing away at the age of 80 in 2012.

Son Pas, with the support of his wife Giuseppina, took on the restaurant full-time after Frank’s death.

All of Frank and Caterina’s descendants chip in to help including grandchildren Dominica, Georgina, Caterina, Robert, Maria, Sophia, Francesco and Rico.

Granddaughter Cat said: “We have had customers come and congratulate us. They are now friends. We are part of the community.

"I would like to thank the customers for all their support over the years. Granddad would have loved it. We’ve heard some cracking stories about how my grandparents would feed people if they were hungry.

"We hope to be still here in another 50 years – there’s enough of us to keep it going.”