London-based Italian restaurant to expand and open in South Yorkshire town

Ponti’s Italian Kitchen has announced its first opening outside the capital, with a restaurant planned at the Fox Valley development, which is due to open later this year.

Fox Valley, being developed by Dransfield Properties on a 28-acre site just off the A616 Sheffield to Manchester Road, is new retail, office and housing development.

It is hoped it will create around 900 jobs.

Ponti’s Italian Kitchen is headed by Stefano Ispani, whose family opened their first caffè business when they moved from Piacenza in northern Italy to London in 1963.

The new Stocksbridge-based restaurant will serve all day and will be able to cater for 150 people over two floors.

It will feature a spumante bar with a balcony as well as a private dining room above the ground floor restaurant.

Stefano said: “We have been looking to find the right landlord to partner with in a location for our first Ponti’s Italian Kitchen outside London.

“With Mark Dransfield and the Fox Valley development we believe we have a perfect partnership; it really is the ideal spot for a new development in a beautiful location in north Sheffield.

“We are creating the authentic feel of a real Italian kitchen with the warmth and passion for fantastic home cooking which goes with that. Our guests appreciate that we have a keen eye for detail and that will be evident throughout the design, layout and of course the food and customer service.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to design and develop our restaurant from the ground up and have an influence on the way the building functions. This is our first restaurant outside London and we are very proud to be working with the Fox Valley team who share our vision and commitment for quality in everything they do.”