An Ayrshire restaurateur is set to open his third restaurant after taking over an iconic venue in the centre of Kilmarnock.

Parveen Sharma, co-owner of 3idiots in Ayr and Troon, told the Advertiser last year that he was planning an ambitious expansion across Scotland with as many as “eight or nine” new eateries.

The business owner has now taken over the iconic Paris Match venue in Kilmarnock, and will run the restaurant as ‘3idiots by Parveen Sharma’.

The restauranteur admits he has been eyeing up an eatery in the town for several years, and is delighted to throw open its doors later this summer.

Parveen said: “We have very ambitious plans to expand across Scotland and Kilmarnock was always a target.

“This place I looked at one year ago, but we had just opened Troon so it would have been a bit too much at the time.

“We’ve been eying up Kilmarnock for a long time because it has a really active restaurant scene but only one other Indian place.

“I am so happy to finally get this over the line and I can’t wait to welcome everyone later this summer.”

Earlier this year, Parveen’s Troon eatery, which he runs with business partner Guri Gurchet Singh, took home a special recognition award at the Scottish Curry Awards.

Parveen also earned a ‘Highly Recommended’ accolade in the best chef category, and he admits he has no plans to change his food for the new venue.

He explained: This restaurant will be a little bigger at 70 seats, and I will be running it with my girlfriend instead of Guri.

“However it will still very much be the 3idiots with the same tapas menu and the traditional food that everyone loves.

“What we have at Ayr and Troon clearly works and people love it so why try and change something if it’s not broken.

“However, we will have specials every week that will hopefully suit all tastes and preferences for anyone who visits.”

Parveen believes the new restaurant will be a big hit, and reveals diners from Kilmarnock regularly visit his two South Ayrshire restaurants.

He added: “So many people from Kilmarnock come to Troon and Ayr, and they ask me all the time if we can open there.

“There is just one other Indian restaurant in Kilmarnock so we are certainly going in at a good time to compete.

“The builders are starting this week, and they are going to change the bathrooms, and make some improvements to the bar.

“I hope we will be ready to open in July, and then we will set our sites on our next venue to build up our Indian restaurant empire.”