A restaurant offering luxury sweet treats will open its first branch in Kent this weekend.

Heavenly Desserts at the £115m Riverside development in Canterbury will welcome its first customers tomorrow morning from 11.30am.

Pudding lovers will be able to sample the company's limited edition festive menu, alongside a range of signature cheesecakes and sundaes.

Also available are "croffles", described as "delicately baked until light and crispy, giving you the flakiness of a fresh croissant with the classic markings of our American waffles".

While the restaurant is the first of its kind in Kent, the Canterbury venue will be Heavenly Desserts' 45th store in the world.

Yousif Aslam, managing director at Heavenly Desserts, said: “Given the success of our expansion in London, we could think of no better place for the location of the store than the beautiful neighbouring county of Kent.

"We are delighted to be launching our 44th and 45th stores as we inch closer to our goal of 50 stores UK-wide as a franchise.

“Our team has done a fantastic job in bringing our beautiful Canterbury restaurant together ahead of Christmas and we look forward to welcoming locals and families who we are certain will enjoy dining at our store in the exciting new development at The Riverside.”

It also has Halal, gluten-free and vegan options on the menu.

The desserts will also be available to order on Uber Eats for delivery and collection from the Kingsmead Road site.

It will be open from 12pm to 10pm Monday to Thursday, from 12pm to 11pm on Fridays, 11.30am to 11pm on Saturdays and 12pm to 10pm on Sundays.

Heavenly Desserts is the latest business to confirm its arrival at the Riverside development.

High-end smokehouse Korean Cowgirl will also be opening this Christmas.

It will start serving guests on Monday, December 19.

The businesses will be joining several other establishments at Riverside, including the upmarket bar and restaurant Sekkoya.

A five-screen Curzon cinema has already launched at the city council development, and a licence has been granted for a BrewDog bar.

Plans for a Boom Battle Bar offering bowling, axe-throwing and table tennis in one of the 13 units have also been revealed.

Fireaway Pizza is also coming to Riverside.