THIRTY-FIVE jobs have been created with the opening of a new £800,000 Italian restaurant in York.

Bella Italia, which already has a restaurant in Low Petergate, York, has built a second off Stirling Road, Clifton Moor, next to Vue Cinema and close to the Flying Legends pub, Frankie & Benny’s, Harvester and Chiquitos.

The Clifton Moor restaurant is part of Bella Italia’s on-going expansion and refurbishment project in the UK, which will see about 15 restaurants refurbished and another 20 new sites over the next year. The company, part of the Tragus Group, has 86 restaurants throughout the UK.

The new restaurant, which has created a mix of both full and part-time positions, has “a modern and bold Mediterranean colour scheme”.

Jeremy Beasley, manager of the Clifton Moor Bella Italia, said: “We’ve already received fantastic feedback on our new look, and we fully expect the restaurant to go from strength-to-strength as people in York come to check us out. It’s the perfect location to catch up for a business breakfast, with friends after work, or for a meal out with the whole family.”

The Clifton Moor restaurant will also be rolling out its new Gelato Cart, enabling customers to create their own style of Italian ice cream, with flavours including strawberry and to inventive Cocotella (coconut and ‘Nutella’) and honeycomb.

As part of the opening celebrations, a family party will be held on Saturday from noon, when there will be a magician and face-painting.

Everyone is welcome to join in the fun.