Two national restaurant chains have entered into mouthwatering deals to come to Sittingbourne.

Pizza Express and Wildwood have signed agreements to take units as part of the town’s multi-million pound regeneration.

They are due to have space in the same building as the eight-screen cinema, on what is now The Forum car park.

While the Spirit of Sittingbourne consortium behind the £59 million project has remained tight-lipped on the names of the firms, they are both named in a Swale council report.

The latest revelation follows news that Home Bargains, a Costa drive-through and Iceland’s Food Warehouse were at advanced stages in deals to occupy new “big box” retail units, due to be built on the former Princes Street depot off Eurolink Way.

Budget hotel chain Travelodge has also signed up to open a new branch opposite the entrance to Sittingbourne Railway Station.

Four other smaller restaurant units in the leisure building are yet to be let but negotiations continue, says the report, which is due to go before the council’s scrutiny committee on August 31.

Sara Seabridge, of the Sittingbourne Retail Association, said having a Wildwood would be “brilliant”.

"This is something I would like. Everyone I know, we all say we'd like to go for a steak and there's nowhere to go."

On Pizza Express, she added: "We already have a Pizza Hut, so we've got lots of pizza places but this is more upmarket and for a more grown-up market."