Over eight years ago, one St Albans pizza lover swapped being a courier for cooking on his bicycle, and has never looked back.

Adam Atkins, 43, has become a pizza sensation in the city and on social media during his eight years making the famous Italian dish.

43-year-old Adam Atkins has been cooking pizza's on St Albans Market for over eight years and has come a long way.43-year-old Adam Atkins has been cooking pizza's on St Albans Market for over eight years and has come a long way. (Image: Adam Atkins) Currently, the chef has amassed over 127,000 followers on social media and a lucrative partnership with pizza-oven maker, Gozney, creating content including vlogs and "how to" classes.

The majority of these videos feature his hometown of St Albans, where he spins pizza's every Wednesday on the market from his specially-made £58,000 Chevrolet van.

He did not always have state-of-the-art facilities at his disposal though, in fact he obtained his Peddling Pizza trademark for cooking on two wheels.

In 2014, Adam was made redundant on December 25 - a fact he discovered via the Sky news app - sparking his new business venture.

"I was a delivery driver and the company went into administration on Christmas Day and my first child was coming in August of the next year, so I asked myself, what do I do?"

Adam went on to become a full-time dad of two kids, five and nine, for the next two years - but something was missing.

"I had no plan, there was no idea of what I wanted to do, but I did know I was quite good at cooking, especially pizza," he added.

"I got my first pizza oven at home to practice, and my ambition continued from there."

Finding a gap in the trade, Peddling Pizza would become the first of its kind on St Albans Market, utilising a custom-built bicycle to extend into parties and weddings too.

The original Peddling Pizza bicycle became synonymous with Adam's market stall.The original Peddling Pizza bicycle became synonymous with Adam's market stall. (Image: Adam Atkins) The father of two believes he was in a "lucky place" as he could afford to treat the work as a hobby.

Adam said: "As long as it paid for my little boy's nursery, my pitch fee and my products, it didn't matter how much money I made. Once I became a Gozney ambassador though it all skyrocketed!".

Despite missing the "fun" and "camaraderie" of the old-school market of years gone by, Adam enjoys the "healthy competition" of the new food traders and sees the benefits of increased footfall.

Adam appreciates how "life changing" the process has been learning a lot about his pizza making craft and how to maintain a business. For that reason, he will not be running his own pizzeria anytime soon.

"I'm too much of a control freak for my own restaurant," he said. "I'd have to cook every pizza my way.

"I'll do more on YouTube, and I'd love to get myself on some Saturday morning or Sunday morning TV stuff, teaching people what to do."

Currently, Adam livestreams his Wednesday market shift on YouTube and you can tune in here: https://www.youtube.com/@peddlingpizza.

What people may not know about Adam is his "crazy" obsession with sneakers, which led to the purchase of a custom pair of "Peddling Pizza Nike Dunks" for the van. 

He commented: "I was born and raised in the 80s on Cottonmill council estate and didn't have a lot of money for my trainers, now I've got old man money I can get a bit crazy sometimes when I probably shouldn't."

Now focusing on his health, and expanding to social media, Adam will continue cooking up slices recently attending The European Pizza Show at the Olympia, London.

You can find Adam every Wednesday at St Albans Market or via his various Peddling Pizza social media channels: : htpps://linktr.ee/PeddlingPizza?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaY4IFaN0O4t3-yWu2c4kT2vBo-sWLXcFa74N987CO69AbhWP2GT4D1QQYk_aem_HDTZLldbymOP8AQdWFV66Q