‘Punch bag pizza shop’ raises £5,000 for charity in memory of Ammir Hussain, 17, on Pakistan Independence Day

Mohammed Saeed, owner of the Pizza Santino, hosted a charity event in memory of Ammir Hussain (image: David Lowndes)

Pizza Santino, in Lincoln Road, hosted a family fundraiser for the Sue Ryder charity and Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT) on Sunday (August 14).

A Peterborough pizza shop has raised £5,000 for charity in memory of Ammir Hussain, 17, from Peterborough, who passed away last month.

Ammir, who attended Thomas Deacon Academy Sixth Form, in Queens Gardens, passed away suddenly in July 2022.

The charity fundraiser took place outside Pizza Santino, in Lincoln Road, on the Independence Day of Pakistan (Sunday, August 14), and raised money for the Sue Ryder charity and Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT).

Mohammed Saeed, owner of Pizza Santino, said: “My nephew was close friends with Ammir.

“We wanted to use the publicity of our ‘punch bag pizza shop’ for good by raising money for charity in memory of Ammir.”

More than 400 people attended the family festival throughout the day.

There were food stalls, as well as traditional Pakistani seating, which are four-legged beds woven together, as the community celebrated Pakistan Independence Day.

The fundraiser event outside Pizza Santino over the weekend

"All of the money we raised was donated to the Sue Ryder charity and Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust,” he added.

Fun day at Peterborough park returns after three years

Pizza Santino’s pizza has packed a punch ever since the shop thought outside of the box by installing a punch bag earlier this year.

The punch bag gives customers a chance to win a free 15” pizza – the largest pizza on offer at Pizza Santino – by beating the high score set by its chef.

The high score was beaten within an hour of the shop posting about the challenge on its social media.