U.S. and Iranian negotiators were in Switzerland on Sunday for talks on their interim agreement to end the Iran war. Pakistani and Qatari mediators were also at the scene for the technical-level discussions on resolving the conflict that began in late February.

The U.S. team is led by Vice President JD Vance and includes Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. They will meet with Iranian negotiators led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

On the eve of the talks, Tehran announced it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon. The interim deal between the U.S. and Iran is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, as well as calling for billions of dollars of Iran’s assets to be unfrozen.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose American tolls in the strait if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days. The interim agreement calls for toll-free travel for 60 days in the waterway that is vital for the world’s oil supply.

Here is the latest:

Israel says it killed 2 militants in Gaza involved in Hamas’ financial arm

The Israeli military says it killed two militants who were involved in helping transfer up to half a billion dollars to Hamas. The military says the two — Hussein Qadra and Mohammed Farra, who worked with Hamas and the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad — were killed in a strike last week.

It said on Sunday that the men oversaw a network of couriers and money exchange spots in both Gaza and Turkey that funneled money towards Hamas militants and infrastructure.

Both men were killed on Wednesday and buried on Thursday, according to their families. Farra’s family said his father, mother and sister were killed in an Israeli strike earlier in the war.

The conflict in Gaza is not part of the U.S-Iran talks underway in Switzerland.

Pakistani team meets separately with US, Iranian delegations

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has separately met with JD Vance and with the Iranian delegation at the Bürgenstock Resort near Lucerne in Switzerland where the high-level talks are taking place.

Islamabad says Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, accompanied Sharif at the meetings. It did not provide further details.

Sharif has repeatedly said Munir played a key role in brokering the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.

A video released by Sharif’s office shows him warmly embracing Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, and Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, as Munir looks on.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog is also at the scene of the talks

Rafael Grossi, chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — met with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the gathering at the picturesque mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne on Sunday morning.

The agency had monitored the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated between the U.S. and Iran under the Obama administration.

Trump in 2018 withdrew the U.S. from that agreement.

Talks in Switzerland will focus on the Israel-Hezbollah war, Iran says

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei says Tehran will mainly focus during the talks on Sunday on the ongoing fighting in Lebanon.

Tehran insists that the deal’s implementation start with a cessation of all fighting — including between Israel and Hezbollah.

Baghaei said the U.S. “has been unable or unwilling” to hold Israel to the ceasefire.

Iran will meet in the morning with Pakistani and Qatari mediators, and in the afternoon, there will be a four-way meeting including the U.S. negotiating team. There is currently only one day of negotiations planned, Baghaei told the state news agency.

Ships began transiting after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed last week. The U.S. lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and now allows Tehran to sell its oil freely — terms that have left some in U.S. Congress asking whether the war was worth it.

The interim deal signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gives negotiators 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement, but the time can be extended.

Network Rail said it would be a ‘complex recovery operation’

The fatal train crash near Bedford was a “tragic, isolated incident”, Network Rail has said, as it announced that rail services will be disrupted until June 28 while a “complex recovery operation” to remove the damaged trains and carriages from the track continued.

The collision, which killed a train driver and left 100 others injured, involved two East Midlands Railway (EMR) trains – with one smashing into the back of the other on the same line shortly after 5pm on Friday.

On Sunday, Network Rail said a “complex recovery operation” to remove the damaged trains and carriages from the railway had begun.

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Engineers will then need to assess the damage and complete repairs.

Rail passengers have been warned to expect disruption to services to and from Bedford for another week, and were urged to only travel if it is “absolutely necessary”.

There will be no services north of Luton on the busy commuter Thameslink line and no EMR services south of Bedford, with a limited rail replacement bus service in operation between Luton and Bedford, Network Rail said.

British Transport Police said more than 80 people were treated in hospital on Friday night, and as of Saturday morning 28 remained in hospital, with nine in a critical condition.

Of the 100 victims, 11 people were very seriously injured, a further 32 were seriously hurt and 57 others suffered minor injuries, the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) said.

“While investigations are still at an early stage, current indications are that this was a tragic, isolated incident,” said Ellie Burrows, Network Rail Eastern regional managing director.

“We are focused on the safe reopening of the railway and getting services running as quickly as possible.

“During this time, our message to passengers is clear – please expect disruption to services through this area for the majority of next week and only travel if absolutely necessary.”

Is AI a boom that’s just getting started or a bubble about to burst?

Whichever you think, in San Francisco, once again the epicenter of a tech revolution, one thing is certain: AI is driving an already expensive housing market completely nuts.

In March, the median home price in the city topped $2 million. Bidders regularly pay more than $1 million above listing prices for houses that, in most other places, would be unremarkable single-family homes with a few bedrooms and small backyard. The California city has both the highest and fastest-rising home prices in the country, according to Redfin.

The median monthly price of a one-bedroom apartment is hovering around $4,000. Since Covid, rent has roughly doubled, at times hitting $10,000 per month on the iconic Victorian mansions sprinkled throughout the city, according to one real estate broker.

Real estate insiders say the spike in property prices is unmistakably tied to the AI race as start-up investors and major tech companies alike throw around huge sums of money to attract top talent to the region.

“They make really good money,” commercial real estate broker Dimitris Drolapas told The Independent. “We’re seeing $500-, $600-, $700,000 of income isn’t unheard of, plus stock and all that.”

The AI boom has helped drive a “complete 180” from the pandemic era, he added, when San Francisco was a poster child of urban dysfunction with residents leaving in droves and the downtown area resembling a ghost town due to remote work.

Mo Zhu, an activist with local housing group SF YIMBY, lives in Mission Bay – a revamped waterfront district that houses offices for the leading AI companies who have helped drive a commercial real estate comeback around the city and a return to in-office work.

Zhu’s own rent recently went up by 10 percent, a fact he attributes to the AI-related investment in the area. At first, he felt lucky the price hike wasn’t worse – then realized it was shocking to feel fortunate to be facing a double-digit increase in his bills.

“I was upset that I felt lucky,” he said. “10 percent is not lucky in any objective sense of the world…I certainly was directly impacted by that with OpenAI down the street and Anthropic up the street.”

Many of his friends want to move into the neighborhood, which is home to scenic parks and the new Warriors NBA stadium, but can’t afford it.

“They work in high-paying tech jobs,” he said. “They’re not even able to…It’s really squeezing out even families in good economic situations. I can’t imagine what it’s like for families who are not.”

The squeeze is only going to worse this year, thanks to three blockbuster initial public offerings from AI-related companies with deep ties to the city and state.

Elon Musks’s SpaceX just went public, making Musk the world’s first trillionaire, and the company soon expanded on its existing xAI division with a $60 billion deal to acquire Cursor, a San Francisco-based AI coding agent start-up.Rivals OpenAI and Anthropic are next up for sale, and will mint plenty of other new fortunes, too. Some Anthropic employees could be set to earn $50 million from the I.P.O. Together, the three I.P.O.s could generate as much as $4 trillion in value, Barron’s estimates. One local real estate agent predicted these offerings will unleash a “thermonuclear wealth explosion deposited squarely in San Francisco.”

In anticipation, sellers around the region have been offering to accept shares in these companies instead of cash for home purchases, according to reports.

The influx of people and capital is welcomed news for some but it’s putting enormous pressure on the city’s existing lower-income renters, according to Jennifer Fieber of the San Francisco Tenants Union, as landlords stand to gain from replacing longstanding tenants with wealthier new arrivals. The city has struggled for years to build enough affordable housing and keep rents feasible for lower-income people, and state law prevents cities from enacting rent control on large swathes of the housing stock.

“Because the rents have increased in the city, there’s going to be huge pressure to get rid of the people you have, regardless of whether they’ve been paying on time,” Fieber said.

There is also concern that the AI industry might be a bubble about to pop – with investors irrationally assigning too much faith, capital and value to ventures that won’t survive, while letting this same optimism drive other major investments in their lives, such as splashy home purchases.

Warning signals of a looming market correction are already there: AI companies are burning through hundreds of millions of dollars building out data centers while struggling to turn a profit, and corporate clients have begun rationing spending on AI for their teams, all while the stock market is hovering near record highs thanks to optimism in the tech advancement.

So far, according to Mike Simonsen, chief economist at real estate firm Compass, the AI boom hasn’t sent the San Francisco property market into full-on bubble territory just yet, where “junk starts getting overpriced.” Instead, the craziness is more concentrated.

In May, according to Compass data, homes were selling at 124 percent of their asking prices. The city’s wealthiest have begun “massive overbidding” on an even smaller basket of the most attractive homes in the most desirable areas. Last month, a five-bedroom mansion overlooking San Francisco Bay in scenic Pacific Heights sold for $3 million over asking price, and in nearby Presidio Heights, another palatial home went for nearly $4 million above the sticker price.

“Much of the wealth generation, especially around real estate, as a result of the AI companies is actually already in the system,” Simonsen said. “These are people who are already moved into town with big salaries and go, ‘I‘ll take whatever apartment is available.’”

“The concentration becomes overwhelming,” Simonsen added of those now pursuing top homes in the city. “Someone who is not armed with millions in new wealth, the scenario is just really stacked against ‘em.”

Ironically, according to Mark Hogan, a San Francisco-based architect at OpenScope Studio, the AI boom has coincided with a hellish round of layoffs and companies leaving California within the wider tech industry.

“The IPO mania is real and there are people making a lot of money, and there are clearly people moving here and taking very high-paying jobs at AI companies, but that’s also balanced with other people becoming unemployed and other jobs moving out of the city,” he said. “So there’s kind of a mix of many different things going on at once here.”

Simonsen, the Compass economist, said the soaring AI industry could eventually turn and resemble the early 2000s dot-com crash, which sent San Francisco real estate values plunging along with it. During the dot-com crash, tens of thousands of Bay Area workers lost their jobs, and San Francisco real estate took its worst hit since the Great Depression. By the time the bubble popped, commercial rents had fallen 60 percent from their year 2000 peak and residential rent was down 12 percent in the city.

If the AI economy suffers a similar bust, it could mean similar impacts. AI workers would lose their high-income jobs, and the stock some used as collateral to get home loans — or pay for houses outright — could become nearly worthless.

“All of a sudden, the stock is worth 90 percent less,” Simonsen said of this scenario.

In a downturn, homeowners also would not be able to sell their properties at the same high prices they paid for them, compounding the economic pain.

As for solutions to prevent some kind of AI-related housing apocalypse, experts told The Independent about a variety of reforms that could make a difference. These include expanding rent control, cutting down on city bureaucracy, and supporting existing pro-housing zoning reforms and state laws.

Groups like SF Yimby are championing mid-rise, “single-stair” apartment buildings, which feature one central staircase, rather than the multiple required under state law, as a way to maximize the number of units in buildings on San Francisco’s typically small property lots.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and District Supervisor Myrna Melgar are backing $70 million bond to raise funds for affordable housing and a November ballot initiative to increase the city’s contribution to its affordability-focused Housing Trust Fund.

Whatever the future of San Francisco housing looks like in the age of AI, it doesn’t seem likely the city will return to the Covid days any time soon, when landlords were lowering prices to entice people to come back and keep residents who were on the fence about leaving. In an April 2020 survey, more than a third of San Francisco landlords said they had granted reductions, and 10- and 20-percent cuts could be seen on rents everywhere from finance-focused downtown to leafy, residential Glen Park.

Jennifer Fieber, the tenant activist, was one of those who benefitted from this brief window of declining prices. “Those days,” she said, “are definitely gone.”

As Drolapas the real estate broker sees it, the region is stuck in a bind. A booming economy strains San Francisco’s renters, and a declining economy offers them a silver lining. Neither scenario is a win-win for the city as a whole.

“There’s always good, there’s always bad,” he said. “The good is it’s nice to see some economic stimulation, especially after things were so dire here. The bad would be, you know, it’s hard for everyone to be able to afford to live here. That’s really where the conundrum is.”

Are you OK?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Right. Great.”

Pause.

“It’s just that you seem a bit-”

“A bit what?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

This exchange, or some variation of it, used to be the sonic backdrop to every holiday I took with my ex. I defy any established couple not to recognise the seething tensions that roil beneath the somewhat calm transcript – the passive-aggressive undercurrent that flows through it – like strong waves on a beach getaway.

The subject of the discord was almost immaterial. There would always come a point – usually while sitting in tense silence at a restaurant, oblivious to the majestic sunset and delicious grilled seafood – when I’d wonder where it had all gone wrong. We were on holiday, for goodness sake! We were meant to be having a nice time!

It’s not just me who’s experienced the perils of the vacation barney. According to research by railcard.co.uk published earlier this year, one in four couples clash when travelling; another study found that more than 42 per cent of respondents argued more than expected with their partner on holiday. Far from being relaxing, time away could well be the ultimate stress test for a relationship. Why are we so prone to disagreements when not on home turf?

“A holiday places a magnifying glass on the relationship, and that can intensify things quite a lot,” says Elinor Harvey, a psychotherapist and clinical director at The Relationship Therapy Practice. It’s not that the holiday creates problems out of nowhere, but that it amplifies issues that were already there.

“Think about all the combinations of things that have to happen in order for the holiday to even come about – possible financial stress around how much is acceptable to spend on a holiday, or there might be friction when planning it, because one person might be the natural organiser but have a lot of resentment about that,” adds Harvey. (I can certainly relate to that feeling.)

Then there’s the difference between expectation and reality, according to Fenia Christodoulidi, head of training and consultancy for Relate. “One reason that couples tend to have tension is the fantasy that the holiday will be perfect, and I think social media bombards us with a lot of information about what makes a ‘perfect’ holiday,” she says.

Decision fatigue is an inherent part of planning and executing travel too – where to stay, where to eat, which sights to see. It can be exhausting. And the gap between what you and your partner expect from a break can prove incredibly disappointing. “One partner may see it as time to pause and restore, whereas the other partner may think it’s time to be adventurous and explore – so they may clash about what needs they want to be met,” adds Christodoulidi.

I’m reminded of a friend who found herself weeping in the middle of Paris when she realised that her then partner’s idea of the perfect romantic mini-break involved ticking off every museum in a five-mile radius, while she’d been fantasising about quaffing red wine and slow strolls along the Seine.

Frustrations can arise, too, around exactly the same domestic issues that plague day-to-day life. If you’re staying in a villa, no matter how beautiful it is, someone has to cook and wash up. “Technically you’re on holiday, but the roles and responsibilities often revert to type – and that can be huge, because you’ve come into it with the expectation that it’s going to be a chance for you to have a break,” Harvey explains. This reaction can be further heightened when you factor in childcare on a family holiday.

For a partner who has a high-pressure job, it can be a real challenge to switch off from work – another source of friction. “I work with lots of professionals and they crash into a holiday because they’ve been working flat out,” says Harvey. “In a week’s holiday, you can’t just decompress immediately. It might take several days to get out of work-mode.”

But couples don’t just have to accept that spats or all-out warfare are inevitable. Simply talking in the run-up to going away can make a world of difference.

“Communication is king,” advises Harvey. “How do we navigate what our different expectations might be, our different vision of holidays? Ideally, we’re not leaving that conversation until the week before; we’re hopefully having those discussions over a longer period in the lead-up.”

She recommends naming any specific anxieties ahead of time. Worried that you’re going to be saddled with making all the meals and cleaning the Airbnb kitchen every night? “Don’t be afraid to raise that stuff before you’re out there – don’t wait till you’re full of resentment as you scrub the worktops while everyone else is at the pool,” says Harvey.

Lifting the pressure to be joined at the hip on holiday is also advisable. “My husband likes hiking and exercising, whereas I may want to lie on the beach – and as long as we agree that we don’t have to do everything together, that is fine,” says Christodoulidi. She also recommends explicitly hashing out how you’re going to make decisions and who’s responsible for what in advance.

Even if you’ve laid the communication groundwork, conflict can and does still arise on holiday. Rather than avoiding it at all costs, what’s crucial is being able to navigate disagreement in a healthy way. (It’s certainly cheaper than booking a separate hotel room or catching the next flight home in a fit of pique.)

The normal dynamic of “rupture and repair” can admittedly be tougher – you’re spending an intense amount of time together, perhaps trapped in one hotel room. “I’m a big believer in a timeout,” says Harvey. “If you’re in a full emotional blast, communication is quite challenging.” If you notice things are escalating, her advice is to say: “Let’s press pause, let’s give each other some space.” Emotions can spike but then recede just as quickly; humans naturally self-regulate quite well.

Christodoulidi emphasises the need for the timeout to be “responsible”: “It’s not a timeout where I abandon you. It’s a timeout that says, I’ll go for a walk, and then I’ll come back in an hour, and we’ll speak. There needs to be a promise of return and a commitment to addressing the issue when I come back.”

Sharing more vulnerable emotions – saying you feel sad or overwhelmed, for example, rather than expressing frustrations through anger – can also invite compassion from your partner, says Harvey.

A final tip is to have a post-holiday debrief if micro-tensions or, indeed, World War Three did erupt. “Lots of couples just brush it under the carpet and pretend it didn’t happen,” says Harvey. “But it’s actually much better to use that as a bit of a wake-up call. Ask: ‘What was that about? What do we need to look at here?’”

She explains that we should frame our feelings as simply messengers that are trying to tell us something: maybe we need to be clearer with our expectations rather than projecting assumptions; maybe we need to work on communication. “Those tough holiday experiences can be a learning experience. Conflict is really healthy for couples, because they can grow through it; it doesn’t have to be a breaking point.”

When it comes to holidaying with your other half, a change may not always be as good as a rest – but you might not have to throw in the (beach) towel just yet.

Reece James is sick of talking about his assorted injuriy problems, and says the constant chatter about his physical problems is “boring now.”

The England defender’s career has been plagued by injuries, which saw him suffer heartbreak when ruled out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a disappointment that was compounded by also missing England’s run to the Euro 2024 final.

Another injury with Chelsea disrupted the second half of his season before returning for the final few games and earning a seat on the plane to North America.

James says the narrative about his injuries is wearing thin.

“People always talk about injuries and availability, and to me it’s so boring now.” James told BBC 5 Live.

“I have one job, which is to be the best I can when I’m on the pitch. To be honest, I understand the stigma at the start, but after a while it gets boring.

“I’ve been fit for a long time before my last injury, and I don’t listen to too much noise.

“I just focus on myself, my body, trying to perform the best I can and help the team I’m playing in.”

James is Thomas Tuchel’s first-choice right-back and he says he “connects really well” with the boss as the pair aim to win another major trophy together

The quick-thinking youngster took his own boat out to the water to save the pair.

A teenager has been praised for using his own boat to rescue two men from the water in the Hebrides.

The two men fell out of a toy blow-up inflatable boat in Broadford Bay, Skye, on Saturday evening.

The quick-thinking teen, around 16, spotted the two in difficulty and went out in his own boat to rescue them.

He brought the pair back to sure in an epic rescue mission.

The Kyle of Lochalsh RNLI lifeboat were also called to the scene after the Coastguard received reports of two people in difficulty.

However, the men had been rescued by the time they arrived and were said to be safe and well.

Lifeboat organisation the RNLI has praised the youngster for his heroic efforts.

Andrew MacDonald, helm at Kyle RNLI, said: “Thanks to the quick thinking of the teenager going out in his own boat to rescue the two casualties, a far more serious situation was averted.

“We’d like to remind people that blow-up inflatable toys should be kept for use in swimming pools and not open water, and to always ensure that you have lifejackets on and a means of communicating to the emergency services if you get into any difficulty.”

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Magistrates went ahead with all their cases, found them guilty in their absence and sentenced them.

Three cases were heard at Harrogate Magistrates Court.

Sarah Partridge, 38, of Water Lane, York, was convicted of failure to tell police who was driving her vehicle when it was allegedly committing a traffic offence.

She was banned from driving for six months, fined £120 and ordered to pay £120 prosecution costs and a £48 statutory surcharge.

Jamie Lee, 52, of Middlefield Close, Osgodby, Scarborough, was convicted of not telling police who was driving his vehicle when it was allegedly committing a traffic offence.

He was banned from driving for six months, fined £660 and ordered to pay £120 prosecution costs and a £264 statutory surcharge.

Thomas Butler, 37, of Hugden Close, Pickering, was convicted of driving without insurance in Helmsley and was banned from driving for six months.

He was fined £660 and ordered to pay £120 prosecution costs and a £264 statutory surcharge.

Christopher Roche, 36, of Millgate News, Selby, was convicted by Bradford magistrates of failure to tell police who was driving his car when it was allegedly speeding in a 30mph zone at Walton near Tadcaster.

He was fined £660, ordered to pay a £264 statutory surcharge and £130 prosecution and given six penalty points.

Having made his England debut in 2017, Pickford helped the team reach the World Cup semi-finals the following year in Russia and has cemented his place as manager Thomas Tuchel’s number one.

Now a veteran of the team with 85 caps at the age of 32, Carlisle played their part in his development after he joined the then-League One team on loan from Sunderland.

He only played 18 games for the Cumbria-based club but clearly left his mark.

“I remember one game in particular, we were playing at Deepdale against Preston,” said Ben Benson, who went to the game as a fan but was also part of Carlisle’s goalkeeping set-up.

“He made a mistake, one that goalkeepers up and down the country make every week.”

The stakes couldn’t have been higher in the incident Benson recalled as Pickford, aged just 19, had joined a club struggling to stay in the division.

Away to Preston he’d come for a cross and, despite seeming to have both hands on the ball, it fell from his grasp and Lee Holmes poked home to score North End’s third goal in a 6-1 success.

However, it was what Pickford did after that mistake which impressed Benson and set the tone for the rest of the season.

He added: “Once it happened, I could remember him going back to his goal. He got his towel and put it over his head for maybe five seconds.

“He took it off, put it back on, and it was almost like he’d pressed the reset button. From the moment on, I remember him being outstanding.”

Pickford’s displays weren’t enough to save Carlisle from relegation but he returned to Sunderland where he established himself as their first-choice keeper and moved to Everton in 2017 for a transfer fee reported to be £30m.

“In Jordan you see reliability and robustness first and foremost,” said Benson. “For him to have over 300 Premier League appearance and more than 80 England caps, there’s a robustness there and I think that’s very important.”

It has earned a growing reputation in recent years after joining the food line-up at the popular city venue

Knead Pizza needs no introduction to regular visitors to Belfast’s Common Market. The local pizzeria has become a firm staple at the iconic city food spot.

Founded by Newtownabbey man Aidan Moss, Knead has earned a growing reputation in recent years after joining the food line-up at the popular Cathedral Quarter venue.

His latest move has been him partner with food services giant SSP Group as part of the newly refurbished dining area at Belfast International Airport.

OPINION

For Aidan, 38, it’s been a whirlwind journey from working in banking to making pizzas in a garage and now doing it for a living within Belfast’s thriving food scene and all in the space of a couple of years.

Aidan told Belfast Live: “It all started during COVID making pizzas in the garden, me and my friend, Mark. My wife Aisling had bought me a new pizza oven for my 30th birthday.

“It turned into a bit of a competition between the two of us. me and Mark, to see who was better at it and everybody would have said that we’re both good and that we should team up.

“As a result, Belfast Pizza Lads was born in 2022 – just two lads from Belfast doing pizza our way. We started in his garage, taking pre-orders on Instagram and we started to get busier and busier selling.

“Aisling, who is a teacher got us to do an event at her school catering for the staff. One of the staff member’s husbands owned a pizzeria in our local pub, The Crown and Shamrock Inn in Newtownabbey. I reached out to the pub owner and he agreed to take us on and we’ve been there for the last four years.”

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Back in 2024, Aidan’s banking job was being made redundant and moved to Edinburgh so it was decision time for Aisling and himself: “We’d just had our first kid so I couldn’t really travel.

“My wife talked me into giving Knead to go. I came from a banking background, not a food background so I had no real network in the city centre.

“I reached out to one of my friends who is a director of the Waterfront Hall and he introduced me to Lawrence Bannon, who owns Common Market. Just purely by chance there was a vendor leaving, and we were able to get in.

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“Our pizza is inspired by our travels and experiences, with a distinctive Belfast twist. We’re not Neapolitan, we’re not New York – we sit somewhere in the middle so I call it like a Belfast pizza experience. It’s as local an experience as I can make it.”

Knead Pizza is also now being enjoyed by passengers at Belfast International Airport. Flax & Soda is one of the airport’s newest food and drink venues and offers an approachable, family-friendly atmosphere.

Celebrating the best of Northern Ireland, Flax & Soda is a 280-cover space offering a flexible, all-day dining experience tailored to a wide range of passenger needs.

The venue has also teamed up with Knead to add their pizzas to the menu for passengers to get when they’re passing through.

“As a local business, we are incredibly excited for the opportunity to partner with SSP to bring our product to Belfast International Airport, and we are proud to share it with visitors from around the world.

“It’s been a mad journey from working in a bank in 2024 to making pizzas in an airport in 2026,” Aidan laughs.

Video: Justin Kernoghan

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