The Tony Macaroni chain of Italian restaurants are expanding at a rate of knots.
The existing branches in East Kilbride, Largs, Livingstone and Glasgow’s Byres Road have just been joined by a new outlet in the Italian Centre on Glasgow’s John Street.
Two further branches are in the pipeline at Motherwell and Lanark.
Depending on who you believe, the first Italian restaurant in the UK may have been the Italian Eating House. Run by the Venetian-born Jospeh Moretti, it operated just off Leicester Square between 1803 and 1805.
Two centuries later and Italian restaurants show no sign of losing their lustre.