PRET A Manger has announced plans to open the doors to its first shop in Basingstoke. 

The shop, which will be on the ground floor of Festival Place, will launch in May.

The new opening will create up to 22 new jobs, which the company is currently recruiting to fill.

In addition to a full menu of handmade natural food and organic coffee, the new shop will also feature a seating area with more than 110 spaces.

Pret’s entire range of sandwiches, baguettes and salads are made fresh on-site in each shop’s own kitchen, and are never kept overnight.

Instead, the company donates unsold food to the homeless community each evening with the help of local charities.

In 2014, Pret donated three million food items to homeless charities.

Pret is currently looking for local charities for the homeless in the Basingstoke area to partner with.

Suggestions can be made to Pret’s Foundation Trust manager by emailing Giovanna.Pasini@pret.com.

A spokesperson for Pret said: “We often receive requests to open a shop in Basingstoke, and the opportunity to launch in Festival Place feels like a good fit for us.

“Not only are we looking forward to getting to know local customers and providing them with fresh, natural food and coffee each day, we’re also hoping to do our bit to help alleviate the pressures of homelessness in the local area.

“We are currently looking for local homeless charities to support through food donations each night, and would love to be contacted by any organisations who feel they could benefit from collecting fresh, unsold food from our new shop in the evenings after we open.”