A Mediterranean deli has moved into another town centre shopping unit left vacant by the demise of a Kent butchers.

The P & R Italian Shop opened its latest store in the county today in The Mall in Maidstone, filling the void left by JC Rook & Sons.

It is the second unit vacated by Rooks, which had 11 shops across Kent and went into administration without warning in March, that the Italian grocery has converted.

The other was in Sittingbourne and opened in June.

There was already a P & R Italian Shop in Tunbridge Wells and a fourth branch is due to be opened in Gillingham in the coming weeks.

Its newest store opened at 10am today and shoppers were greeted by store manager, Cristian Popa, and store director, Pennie Pucci.

Cristian, a 44-year-old from Italy's capital Rome, said: "All of our products are special. They are very hard to find anywhere else in England and all our produce is directly imported from Italy."

Cristian, who manages all the stores, explained that the prices reflect the quality of the food they sell.

He said: "The food here is different to everything else in Maidstone.

"Everything we offer people we allow them to try – you can always try before you buy.

"It is traditional, just like shops in Italy. It is another little slice of Italy in Kent."

The store not only offers imported fresh and dry pasta but also specialist olive oils, wines, tomatoes, cakes and more.

Pennie, 46, said: "All of our staff rotate around the stores and we're always happy to help.

"It is lovely that the people of Kent want to try our products and that they keep coming back and telling their friends."

Ready to eat, freshly cooked pizza is also available, as is freshly ground Caffe Z'ani coffee which is ground and produced by Antonio and Rosie Melina.

Shoppers can either have a cup the Italian, or English, way in store or buy a bag for at home.

One customer, Linda Jago, said the shop was brilliant.

The 61-year-old from Maidstone said: "It's lovely, it will definitely pull in the crowd.

"There are some wonderful fresh pastas, I'll be coming back for sure."

Shirley Nedley, also from Maidstone, agreed.

The 44-year-old said: "They have such lovely cannoli here.

"It is my partner's favourite thing, they can be hard from other places but here they are so light and fluffy."