A NEW pizza restaurant is set to open on the site of a former cafe chain.

Purezza wants to open its second branch in Western Road, Hove.

The vegan pizza restaurant, founded by Tim Barclay in 2015, already has a restaurant in St James’s Street in Brighton, and a restaurant in Camden.

But now he has targeted a new restaurant opening in Hove, among a more general expansion. It will be in the site previously occupied by Patisserie Valerie.

The national cake and coffee chain shut its doors to customers there in July last year, and the site has been empty.

But now workers are kitting out the former cafe to convert it into a pizza restaurant with its own pizza oven, and Purezza hopes to open next month.

Mr Barclay said: “Brighton and Hove is our home. We opened our Brighton branch here in 2015, and we’ve thrived in this wonderful city thanks to its amazing community.

“As Purezza accelerates plans for nationwide expansion, we also wanted to provide a sister restaurant in our hometown – a beautiful new space that allows us to serve more award-winning pizzas to people across the city every single day.

“We’re currently working hard to get the new restaurant ready while also building a strong team to operate the restaurant, and we look forward to serving Hove in August.”