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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Emma Gill

The pizza place that has people queueing outside

There's a pizza place that popped up in lockdown that has people queuing around the block - and the story behind it is quite something.

Delicious Honey Butter Rings have become the signature dish of Leopard Pie, and have proved so popular in fact that owner Lee Chester has now trademarked them.

A twist on the garlic bread that Brits love so much, they come in a pair and are 'filled with a bath of homemade garlic butter mash and chilli honey drizzle'.

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Now selling hundreds of the 'next level' starters each week from the restaurant in Barton Road, Worsley, Salford, it's a dream come true for businessman Lee, for whom, just a few years back, 'life stopped' when his daughter became gravely ill.

The huge graffiti covered pizza oven in Leopard Pie's open kitchen (Leopard Pie)

A routine blood test on three-year-old Esme revealed she was suffering with end stage kidney failure, turning their lives 'upside down overnight'.

Up to that point the the three-year-old was coughing and a little tired, but otherwise seemed well, so news that her kidneys were functioning at just 6% came as a huge shock to Lee, her mum Rachel Mulhearn and older sister Georgia.

What followed was months in hospital as Esme spent months on dialysis - 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

She eventually returned home, only to suffer a stroke on Christmas Eve 2015, leading to another long stay at Manchester Children’s Hospital.

When Lee was told he was a match to donate a kidney to his daughter, he didn't think twice, and the pair underwent the operation in August 2016.

Thankfully all went to plan with Esme making a full recovery and life returning to normal, with Lee carrying on his job as an account manager for Canon UK.

Owner Lee Chester at Leopard Pie (Leopard Pie)

But when lockdown came and he found himself with more time on his hands, his thoughts turned to his dream of starting a pizza business, something he'd considered before his daughter's illness.

With neighbours out on his street in Astley, Wigan, clapping for the NHS, he decided it would be a good opportunity for them to sample his Neapolitan creations.

Before long he was taking orders and decided to start his business Leopard Pie from home, while also finding the perfect premises for his restaurant.

Leopard Pie in Worsley (Leopard Pie)

By January last year, with the refit of the former Secret Garden Tea Room underway, the quirky graffiti covered oven was fired up and there were queues for takeaway down the road.

"It has been crazy really," said Lee, 44. "The restaurant was still being fitted but there was so much interest from the opening sign we put in the window so we just thought, 'let's go for it'. If we could do it from home then I knew we could do it from there.

"People are loving the pizzas, we've been told it's better than Rudy's."

Leopard Pie serves up Neapolitan pizzas (Manchester Family/MEN)

Lee knows it's not the cheapest place around - those Honey Butter Rings are £11 as a starter to share - but says customers are happy to pay for quality ingredients, with everything except for the fresh veg coming from Italy.

"It's the best of everything," he said. "We get three deliveries of cheese each week and we don't use any cheap ingredients. With the dough, we call it three-day fermented dough and because it's left for so long, all the sugar's gone, it's better for your gut and is a lot easier to digest.

The woodfired oven (Manchester Family/MEN)

"The whole reason for the Leopard Pie name is because the pizzas are done in a proper woodfired oven with a flame top, which leaves black dots on them like a leopard's spots."

He also deliberately chose 'pie', the American name for pizza, as he plans to franchise over there, along with more restaurants in the UK.

He's already signed up to be part of the new Kargo food hall, which is coming to Salford Quays this summer, and is opening a small restaurant with takeaway in Swinton.

The restaurant is in Barton Road, Worsley (Manchester Family/MEN)

For Lee, who used to own coffee shops but always wanted to have a pizza business, the success of Leopard Pie, which also has a courtyard area for people sit outside, is even sweeter knowing his daughter has a healthy future ahead.

"Life completely stopped when Esme was ill. I still remember so clearly when they sat us down and said she had renal failure and I've never felt so uneducated in my entire life," he said.

"It was such a shock and I just drove home from hospital to get our things and was crying my eyes out.

"We were so relieved when the consultant at the children's hospital said she could be fixed."

Now a healthy 10-year-old, Esme loves nothing more than a trip to her dad's pizza place.

"She has a blood test every eight weeks now and it's a case of no news is good news," said Lee, whose eldest daughter Georgia is now 19 and at university.

Lee's daughter Esme is now a fit and healthy 10-year-old (Leopard Pie)

"She'll have to look after herself and in the future she may need a new kidney, but at least we know that Rachel is a match too, it's just that I was the same blood type so it was better for me to do it.

"Esme loves it at the restaurant, she thinks she's the boss. She's dealt with more in her life before she was even four years old than hopefully we ever will, so she's doing amazing."

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