№ AThe Story · Hurst Green, 2020
Started In Lockdown. Built Around A Biga.
Forager's Pizza & Pasta is Tomas Heron's Village Road pizza-and-pasta shop — a lockdown idea that turned into the UK's Best Independent Pizza Restaurant.
PAPA Awards 2025
Tomas Heron launched Forager's Pizza & Pasta during lockdown, after being made redundant from a marketing job. It was the moment a long-held idea finally got built.
The menu was developed at home with the help of an ex-chef partner and the kids — testing dough and toppings around the table.
Jo drove out to the Cotswolds to find the right flour, settling on organic, stoneground milling for a dough worth building a shop around.
We make virtually everything from scratch — the dough, the sauce, most of the toppings — on the Village Road, every day.
The Biga, Explained
48–72h
A preferment folded into the final mix, then cold proofed 48 to 72 hours — richer flavour, a lighter and more digestible crust.
Sourced close to home wherever it can be.
Energy-efficient baking, no gas flame.
Quiet, clean runs around the village.
Boxes that don't outlive the pizza.
Come And Try It On The Village Road.