PIZZA Express has announced it will open a restaurant in Witney but not at the Marriotts Walk shopping centre.

The company had hoped to open in the Welch Way shopping centre but could not reach an agreement on a proposed extension of a unit with new landlords.

Now the pizza chain plans to open a restaurant in Market Square, replacing Ask, which will close on Saturday, November 10. Both Ask and Pizza Express are owned by the Gondola Group.

Pizza Express property director Mark Jones said: “We have been looking at ways to bring Pizza Express to Witney for some time so are delighted to be joining the town.”

Lesley Semaine, chairman of Witney Chamber of Commerce, said: “I would imagine it will go down very well with the younger generation, because they are pizza mad, and I think it will be more popular than Ask. It’s very good news.”

Pizza Express had hoped to open a restaurant at Marriotts Walk, in a unit formerly earmarked for a Starbucks coffee shop.

The company was granted planning permission to double the size of the unit last year and was in “advanced talks” with the shopping centre’s owners.

But Pizza Express said that when Rreef Witney took over the shopping centre from Kandahar Witney in February the new landlords were unable to accommodate their requirements.