A NEW Italian restaurant is opening near Taunton town centre next month.

Paradiso Della Pasta will be sited in premises in Lower Middle Street.

Dorottya Riedel, of Wood Street, will run the operation with her business partner at Paradiso Pasta Ltd.

She said: "It will be Italian cuisine, with various options of freshly shop-made pastas.

"Our experienced chef from Italy will prepare the pasta itself and the toppings as well for the orders.

"We will also offer vegetarian and wholegrain meals.

"At the moment we are working hard on the refurbishment and the menu. If we won’t have any further issues, the shop will be opened in March."

The restaurant will be in the building previously occupied by Hexagon Cafe, where customers were able to play board games over refreshments.

Before that it was The Old Mexican Restaurant for numerous years.