A new restaurant is set to open on the site of the former award-winning Chandlery in Newport city centre.

Hatti is being set up by six local parnets from Newport: Foyshal Baksh, Iqbal Meah, Mark Riley, Shah Jahan, Jahangir Ahmed and Sayed Hussain.

They work at Tiffins in Cwmbran, which opened in December 2008, as an 'all you can eat' Indian buffet restaurant. And, as well as opening Hatti, with a Michelin star-trained chef from London, they will be bringing Tiffins to Newport Retail Park in Spytty in early 2016.

The group, who have taken a long lease on the former Chandlery building, which is close to George Street Bridge, will initially employ 12 staff with the hope that the number will increase as trade increases.

Mark Riley said: "Hatti's will be a true, fine dining Indian restaurant experience. Our chef is a Michelin Star trained chef from London specialising in authentic Indian cuisine. We will also be offering takeaways and deliveries to the Newport area.

"Newport is catching up with Cardiff and Bristol in the respect of the new shopping centre and new food outlets opening and we see this as an excellent opportunity to fill a niche market and offer a high end, fine dining, Indian restaurant option that the people of Newport have been waiting for.

"The city is growing after a long stagnant period, we have all seen the decline of the town centre and are excited to see it coming back to life again attracting new and independent businesses."

There will be a VIP opening event this evening (November 10) with local rugby stars, boxer Lee Selby and Jack Watkins from the MTV show 'The Valleys' among others.