Prince William enjoyed pizza on a Hackney canalside on Tuesday after visiting an eco-packaging firm next door.
The Prince of Wales tucked in to the artisanal pizzas at Hackney Wick’s Crate brewery after visiting the factory of eco-packaging firm Notpla next door, delighting staff.
The royal made the surprise appearance after touring Notpla’s factory, which won his £1m Earthshot Prize for its biodegradable seaward cartons.
Crate Brewery and Pizzeria told of its excitement at the surprise visit from the heir to the throne, who was offered samples of four of its stonebaked pizzas.
The brewery’s Georgia Pearson said: “We serve all our pizzas on Notpla paper, and obviously they won the Earthshot Prize, hence the visit.
“And they asked us if we could host the end of that meeting at our venue. So then we had pizzas with Prince William! Which was very exciting.
“It was really good, there was a buzz about the place, it was quite nice to have that kind of person visit the area.
“It’s nice to have a light shone on all the interesting and sustainable businesses that operate around here.”
Prince William had earlier toured Notpla’s factory, describing its groundbreaking biodegradable seaweed cartons as “breathtaking”.
It was the first royal visitor to Crate, which serves its pizzas on Notpla’s paper, said Ms Pearson.
“We’ve had nothing like this before, certainly not since I’ve been here anyway,” she said.
“He was at Notpla for about an hour and then he was here having some pizzas for about fifteen, twenty minutes before he shot off.”
The Earthshot Prize was established by William to find solutions to “repair” the planet. Notpla – short for not plastic – scooped its Build A Waste-Free World award last year.
After the visit Notpla co-founder Pierre Paslier said the Earthshot Prize had given his business a huge boost of credibility among potential clients but there were issues with companies still being dependent on plastics.
