Couple went from painting and decorating to opening a pizza joint

PAUL AND MANDY SEIZED THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THEIR OWN RESTAURANT - AND NAMED IT AFTER PAUL'S JAMAICAN-BORN MUM

- By LYNETTE PINCHESS [e-mail] @LynettePinchs

PAUL and Mandy James were painters and decorators when the chance to open a restaurant fell in their lap.

An old acquaintance, the landlord of the property in Nottingham, presented them with the opportunity. Months later, Albertina’s Pizzeria is up and running just down the road from the city's biggest entertainment venue, Motorpoint Arena.

Setting up a restaurant is rarely plain sailing but for Paul there was the additional setback of being diagnosed with bowel cancer last July, partway through transforming the building in the basement of Gothic House, in Barker Gate.

He had to have a colonoscopy after the results of a home testing kit revealed cause for concern. After undergoing surgery to remove a polyp from his bowel, doctors found the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and required a course of chemotherapy.

Paul, who had never been ill in his life, was knocked for six as the treatment affected his appetite, his taste and sense of touch.

"I dodged a bullet," he said, after coming through the other side. "It happened halfway through [setting up the pizzeria] and knocked me back quite a bit. I couldn't do anything and I thought maybe it’s just not meant to be."

But Albertina’s clearly was meant to be. Named after Paul’s Jamaican-born mum, it’s a tribute to the woman who raised him and his five siblings.

Paul said: "I’m not a pizza chef, per se. I’m a cook. I've worked in professional kitchens. I’ve not got a professional chef qualification, but I've been cooking since I was about five years old.