Five more food operators to open at Westfield's Merry Hill

Five more restaurant operators have signed up to run units at Westfield's Merry Hill shopping centre when it opens in the West Midlands later this year.

Pizza Express has announced it will join Nandos to make up two of the three restaurant units next to the 1,200 seat foodcourt while Yangtze Express, Zetao Noodles and Sushi, British operator Harpers and Italian operator Napoli will all operate units within the foodcourt itself.

Rachel Belam, food leasing executive for Westfield, said more than 80 per cent of the units at the centre had been let or were in the final stages of being let so far with other operators including Nineteen Ten Mexican Kitchen, Hey Potato and KFC.

More than 200 jobs are expected to be created within the food court when the shopping centre opens this Christmas. Local people will be recruited for the job and then and trained in a hospitality academy, launched by Westfield in conjunction with Stourbridge College.

Emma Hindes, Merry Hill centre manager said: "This is a major investment in Merry Hill and is most welcome during the current economic climate when job creation is more important than ever.

"We have set up the hospitality academy as a vehicle to ensure that the local community benefits from the new jobs which will be delivered as part of this scheme. We've already had three selection days and interviewed over 120 applicants."