An old shipping container hidden in an Orpington retail park is serving some of the best pizza in the country.

Pizza1889, which opened last year after transforming a container into a swish eatery in the middle of the car park at the Nugent Shopping Centre, was named by restaurant review site TripAdvisor as one of the top 20 pizzerias in the UK.

According to the site, it is currently second top of 118 restaurants in Orpington.     

Co-owner Lynda Southwell said: “It is a wonderful achievement and something to feel very proud of.

“The full credit must go to both the talented pizza chefs who consistently deliver top quality food and our many loyal customers who have written delightful reviews and continuously given us their support.”

Pizza1889 – named after the year year Neapolitan chef Raffaelle Esposito first delivered the now famed pizza to its namesake Margherita, Queen of Italy – uses a state-of-the-art six foot stone pizza oven built bespoke in its specially designed former container.

It prides itself on fresh, high quality ingredients and makes its dough and tomato sauce on site and gets in top coffee as well as ice cream from Gelupo.

Since its opening, footfall in the park has increased two per cent and the company is in talks with other landowners to take Pizza1889 elsewhere.