Staff at a takeaway have denied suggestions it has closed permanently and say there are "exciting things on the horizon" when it reopens.

The Pizza Joint was launched at the Grove Park shopping centre in Sittingbourne in December by boss Gurpreet Rai, a former manager of the town’s Papa John's branch.

It is normally open 11am-11pm seven days a week, however, a number of people have spotted it has been closed.

But a business spokesman has said it is only temporary and they are due to reopen soon.

The statement said: "We would like to update you on what has been happening behind the scenes at Pizza Joint, as a few of you have been asking why we have been shut.

“A store manager has unfortunately had a family member fall severely ill, so the store has been closed to allow him time off.

“We are a small, independent business and having such a valuable member of our team off has been hard to replace.

“Some [people] have been questioning where the owner is in all this.

“Gurpreet is still committed to making The Pizza Joint in Sittingbourne the best it can be.

“He had taken a trip to Naples in Italy to learn how to make Neapolitan pizzas, so there are exciting things on the horizon.

“We are making our recipe even better and doing extensive tests to ensure we give you an even better product than before."

Some customers had managed to place online orders during the closure, and the business says they will receive a full refund. A system error saw payment taken when it shouldn't have been.

“For the most part we did turn our online ordering service offline, but it was switched online due to our platform having a reset," the spokesman continued.

“For this reason, customers were able to place orders even though we were closed.

“Rest assured that anyone who placed an order will receive a full refund.

“We can only apologise to the people who have wanted to order with us, but we are open enough to admit when we feel we can do better.

“We hope to see you all very soon and will make an announcement when we have a proper planned opening date.”