A popular Italian restaurant will soon be opening a branch with a twist in Dorchester.

Al Molo in Weymouth is run by Tim Newton and Giuseppe Vannucci and after seven years together at the restaurant, they want to expand.

Tim said: "Dorchester is close to Weymouth and we are known in the area, which is a good thing so that helps us.

"We both love Dorchester as well, we come to Dorchester quite a bit. Eating out we like the feel of Dorchester and I think with some of the other restaurants opening recently, like The King's Arms, which always seems busy, I think bodes well for that side of town to have another restaurant."

Al Molo will be opening in the former Prezzo and Judge Jeffreys restaurant on High West Street later this year.

"The building is amazing," added Tim.

"We are saying spring [for the opening], but hoping for the end of March. There's quite a lot of work to do there and some teething problems with the licence. All those little things that can take longer than expected."

The Dorchester branch will have the same name as the Weymouth restaurant, but the offering and menu will be different.

Tim said: "We're going to be Al Molo Dorchester, but it's going to be a fish restaurant, predominantly fish but we will have other things as well. It will appeal to everyone.

"We've rebranded it slightly, Al Molo Weymouth is ristorante Italiano and Dorchester is ristorante di pesce.

"With an Italian in Dorchester, there are a few there already, why tread on the toes of other people when we can do something a bit different and capture our own area of the market? There's not a fish market there.

"It is really exciting, but nerve wracking at the same time."

Al Molo has won a number of awards, most recently best restaurant in both the Dorset Tourism Awards and South West Tourism Awards.

"We've got some awards behind us," added Tim, "and to be recognised in the area and to open somewhere else is really lovely.

"We had a good year last year surprisingly. We are so fortunate being down in this part of the world where people come down for their summer holidays, so we did really well and it has continued even through January - we've been doing more people in January than we have ever done, it's really good."

Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter below!

You can submit your own news straight to Dorchester Nub News by using the 'Nub It' button on our home page. This can also be done for events on our What's On page and businesses, groups and organisations on our Local Listings page , also by using the 'Nub It' button.

Please like and follow our online newspaper on your favourite social media channel. You can find us @DorchesterNubNews on Facebook and @DorchesterNub Twitter.