Voodoo Ray's finds a new owner after liquidation

Voodoo Ray's, the Dalston pizzeria known for 22-inch New York-style pies, has a new owner after its operator entered liquidation this month, with longtime staff member Rebecca Lines confirming on October 29 that she now controls the business.

Voodoo Ray's Limited passed a resolution to wind up voluntarily on October 15, according to insolvency notices, with Gary Steven Pettit of PBC Business Recovery & Insolvency Limited appointed liquidator the same day. Gazette notices published on October 21 list the company's principal trading address as 95 Kingsland High Street, the pizzeria's original Dalston site. Neither the company nor its liquidator responded to requests for comment from trade title Restaurant, which first reported the liquidation on October 28.

Voodoo Ray's changes hands

One liquidation notice later, Dalston's pizza slice survives under its own staff.

The pizzeria opened in Dalston in 2012, founded by nightlife entrepreneur and DJ Dan Beaumont, and built a following for 22-inch pies sold whole or by the slice, among the first London restaurants to take New York-style pizza seriously. At its peak in the mid-2010s the brand ran four sites, including food hall and market concessions and a large restaurant in Peckham. Those have since closed, leaving the Dalston original as its sole trading address, much as Cafe Spice Namaste wound down its three-decade run in London earlier this month.

Lines, who has worked at Voodoo Ray's for years, confirmed on October 29 that she now owns the business and plans to build on corporate catering, large orders and private events. She said she wants to collaborate with other independent operators rather than compete with them, a strategy that has also worked for newer openings such as Nonna Bakery's expansion into Covent Garden.

A cocktail bar moves into the basement

The first of those collaborations is already under way. Cocktail bar Doña will run a weekend pop-up in the basement, a space that has previously housed the club Dance Tunnel and later the karaoke venue K-Hole. Doña is closing its Stoke Newington site to make the move, while Voodoo Ray's continues serving pizza upstairs as before.

"Keeping it independent and making sure it's still part of Dalston for years to come" is how Lines described the goal. The reasons behind the liquidation remain undisclosed, and no figures on debts or the terms of the handover have been made public. What is clear is the sequence: a company wound up on October 15, a trade report raising doubts on October 28, and a staff member stepping in with a plan by October 29, a turnaround quick enough to leave the ovens running the whole time.