History

Opened in 1975 by Filippo and Maria-Celeste Crolla as a single-unit chip shop, L’Alba D’Oro expanded into the unit next door in 1978. In 1987, they bought the adjacent unit and created a pizza and pasta house, which was later extended into another unit in 1995. In this year, the whole business was renovated to become an upmarket fish and chip shop and pizza and pasta house.

The Pizzeria also operated as a coffee shop at lunchtime, offering soup and authentic Italian panini and focaccia. Adding a further product line to its portfolio, L’Alba D’Oro became involved in selling world class wines at excellent prices, also inviting any customer requests to find favourite wines which could then be bought by the case.

L’Alba D’Oro has been praised and awarded throughout its history; by word of mouth, television and both national and international press. It achieved its ultimate accolade in February 2002, when it became the first take-away in the world to receive a four-star award from a national tourism body – The Scottish Tourist Board.

A new chapter has been written into the history of L’Alba D’Oro. In October 2004, L’Alba D’Oro decided to return to its roots, separating the chip shop from the pizzeria. This decision was based on the wish to concentrate on strengthening the chip shop’s reputation as being a unique and world-class takeaway, whilst renovating the pizzeria’s concept to boldly challenge today’s competition and better serve its market. Therefore, L’Alba D’Oro now only consists of the chip shop, while the pizzeria has gone on to become a pioneer in the Italian takeaway market operating as ANIMA – Italian Soul Food.

Anima is directed by Filippo and Maria-Celeste’s son, Gino, who managed the pizzeria whilst it was under the name of L’Alba D’Oro.