A Bungay pizza restaurant has been officially crowned the best in the country.

The Suffolk Stonehouse on St Mary’s Street won the Best Independent Pizza Restaurant title at the Pizza Pasta and Italian Food awards at a London ceremony.

They were presented with their award by celebrity chef Aldo Zilli.

“It’s just really exciting,” said co-owner Tanya Martin. “Obviously we’re all thrilled, especially as we were up against so many different restaurants up and down the country.”

The Suffolk Stonehouse opened in July 2014 and all its pizzas are prepared by hand, proved in the Georgian cellar and stone-baked at 300c.

Mrs Martin said: “We’re not trying to do a million things, we’re just trying to do the one thing really well.

“We make our dough fresh every single day and I think you can tell and we make our own tomato sauce and I think that helps it to taste really fresh and we use locally-sourced toppings.

“Pizza from the supermarkets uses agents to stop the sauce going into the case, we don’t need to do that, it cooks in under three minutes and it goes straight out to the table.”

And the Suffolk Stonehouse’s chef Jack O’Dwyer reached the semi-final of the Pizza Chef of the Year 2015.

A spokesman for the competition said: “Pizza consumers in Bungay are lucky to have such a high quality chef as Jack O’Dwyer from Suffolk Stonehouse making their pizzas. Of the many who entered, few win through to the semi-finals. Jack O’Dwyer is truly among the best.”

And Mrs Martin was quick to praise Mr O’Dwyer and the rest of the team at the restaurant for their contribution to the Stonehouse’s success.

“It’s a massive credit to Jack and to Becks Wilson who run the Stonehouse,” said Mrs Martin.

For more on the restaurant, visit www.suffolkstonehouse.co.uk or call 01986 894553.