A TAKEAWAY pizza chain which started life in Didcot is opening its 40th branch – in Abingdon.

Caprinos Pizza, which opened its first restaurant in Broadway Didcot in 2014, has launched a branch in Northcourt, Abingdon.

Co-director Khalil Rehman, from Bicester, said that he hopes the new takeaway on Northcourt Road, will be open by the end of March or early April.

Planning permission was given in October of last year to allow the building, which previously housed McColl’s newsagents, to be converted into a hot food takeaway and delivery restaurant.

Mr Rehman said: “A lot of people in Oxfordshire know us already and we have a good reputation.

“We won the Pizza and Pasta award in 2018.

“People were worried about littering but we won’t have that issue.

“The new store will also create more local jobs in the area of Abingdon.”

Caprinos Pizza has been a local success story since it opened its first Oxfordshire store back in 2014.

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Mr Rehman said it was their love of pizza that spurred him and business partner Gul Mawaz on to start the business.

The pizza takeaway service quickly became extremely popular within Didcot, causing the owners to branch out to other towns across the South East.

Within a year of opening the first shop, the owners decided to branch out to Aylesbury.

Within the business's first four years, it had opened seven more stores – in Headington and Cowley Road in Oxford, and in Faringdon, Banbury, Andover, Stoke and Newbury.

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Now the takeaway, which started as a humble local business, has over 39 stores all over the UK.

This includes sites in Wales, Birmingham and Nottingham.

Mr Rehman said he puts the success down to a winning recipe of great customer service, good quality pizza at reasonable prices, as well as a strong following.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail in 2018 Mr Rehman said: “Our mission for what we wanted was to build a British pizza brand, as many of the others are often American or from elsewhere.

“We didn’t plan to expand so fast when we started in Didcot and it was so small. But we did much better than forecast.”

In Abingdon there already several pizza takeaway outlets and a number of Italian restaurants.

These include a Dominos and Pizza Hut delivery in Ock Street, as well as a Papa Johns on the Square.

Within the town centre there is also a Pizza Express restaurant, an Ask Italian restaurant and the independent Bella Napoli.

Mr Rehman said he would confirm the opening date of the Abingdon branch nearer the time.

* To find more about Caprinos Pizza and its new branches, visit caprinospizza.co.uk