AN AYRSHIRE burger restaurant is set to expand into the Three Towns with plans to open a new store in Ardrossan next month.

Meat in the Middle, which opened in Irvine’s Bank Street in March last year and also has outlets in Ayr and Kilmarnock, will open in Princes Street within weeks as the fast food chain continues to grow in popularity.

Ross Gilmour, co-owner, told the Herald that renovation work at the former Garfield’s Tapas and Wine Bar - which closed in April 2019 - is well under way and it’s hoped that the latest outlet will be ready to serve customers by early April.

“We don’t have an exact date in mind for opening yet,” said Ross, “it just depends on the trades and when we can slot them all in. We are hoping for maybe the start of April.

“It’ll be mainly takeaway because that’s what the other stores are but there will be a seating area for people who want to come in.”

The Ardrossan store, in a category B listed former cinema building on the corner of Princes Street and Hill Street, could create up to 15 new jobs - and Ross said he is keen to keep growing the business.

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As well as the stores already mentioned, there are also outlets in Paisley and Falkirk, with a new unit in Greenock due to follow soon.

Ross also revealed plans for five new venues by the end of this year - with Cumnock among the potential locations.

He added: “It’s exciting times and it’s full steam ahead.

“The Irvine store, when we first opened, took a huge rush of customers in and we had to actually take the delivery radius down just because the demand was so high.

“We’ve never actually expanded it back up, so we thought we would just open a smaller satellite store. Ardrossan was intended to be takeaway only but then we found that property and it suited a small seated area, so we thought it would be a good key location especially as Ardrossan gets quite a lot of visitors during the summer.

“It’s always good to expand... we slowed down the expansion a bit at the end of last year but this year we’re aiming to have another five stores by the end of the year.”

Email info@meatinthemiddle.uk for more information on recruitment.

READ MORE: Ardrossan tapas bar Garfield's closes (from 2019)