A MAJOR restaurant chain threw open the doors of its £1million outlet in a VIP launch in Southampton.

The 300-seater Cosmo, which says it is a family-friendly all-you-can-eat restaurant, occupies 10,000sq ft of the new Westquay centre.

General Manager, Omer Iqbal, of the Southampton Westquay venue welcomed the opening of the venue in what he called ‘’a goldmine of investment for Southampton’’.

He said: "We are very proud to be in Southampton and had a very successful and packed opening night with Customers from all over Hampshire and the South.

"We are glad to come to Southampton and jumped in the opportunity to come here as soon as we heard the news about Westquay South.

"We’ve already got 18 different branches across the UK.

"Cosmo will become bigger and better in terms of sales and footfall for the shopping centre and are expected to contribute to over £20 million in footfall to Westquay South this year.

"The new Southampton branch has a massive catchment area and we are attracting our customers from Reading and Bristol and are sold out for the next few weekends and due to the value for money and the opening of the new Cinema de Lux we will get more customers in Southampton."

Cosmo serves up to 150 dishes from across the globe at its restaurants and diners at its Westquay South outlet and customers will be able to watch their food being prepared at “live cooking stations”.

A host of figures including Cllr Les Harris, Sheriff of Southampton, and Saints legend Francis Benali descended on the new £1m establishment for an evening of gastronomic delight.

Guests were treated to drinks and nibbles before being shown around the restaurant and given live cooking demonstrations by staff including the flaming teppanyaki station.

Addressing those present, The Sheriff of Southampton, Councillor Les Harris, said: “We are delighted that COSMO has decided to open its doors in Southampton and welcome us here for an evening of gastronomic delight to mark the occasion.

“We believe the restaurant will be a major asset to the city with it boosting the local economy by creating jobs and attracting even more people to Westquay.”