RESTAURANT tycoons, Dave Mooney and Paul Newman are set to take on the UK, as the pair reveal their plans to expand the business across the country.

The NewMoon owners are set to open their latest restaurant in early September, saying goodbye to one of their earliest establishments, The Hanging Gate, in favour of an authentic Italian family diner on the same site in Weaverham.

‘Casa Mata’ is one of a number of concepts that the pair hope to take with them as the business continues to grow.

The news comes just three months after the business partners launched The Old Blind School in Liverpool, which makes Casa Mata the eighth establishment to have opened since 2011.

Paul said: “We agreed three sites in five years. For the first year the intention was to build a small group and run it from a head office.

“But we did five in three years, the opportunities just came along.”

But the dynamic duo does not have any plans to slow down, with talk of expanding establishments outside the north west.

“We have a lot of exciting things coming up,” said Paul. “We will stay in the north west until we have saturated what we can do around here.

“There’s no reason why we wouldn’t go to Leeds or Birmingham in the future. Or Dubai! If someone turned round and offered us £10million the possibilities would be endless.”

Dave added: “Paul jokes about Dubai, but really there are opportunities all over the place.

“For us, expansion is site driven. If we find the right site, like with The Old Blind School; we knew exactly what that was going to be.”

The pair, who were laughing and joking comfortably with each other, explained the secret behind their unique level of success.

“The key is that we both get each other, and we get on,” said Paul. “Yes we have had the odd misunderstanding, but we love what we do.”

Dave added: “Another thing is we love eating in our own places. If you don’t feel like that about your own restaurants then you’re getting something wrong.

“We care about the food, the service, the quality and the atmosphere. We could sacrifice our ethos to make even more money, but I wouldn’t enjoy doing it anymore.”

Despite the rapid expansion and plans to continue growing their brand, Paul admitted that The Old Sessions House was still his favourite.

Dave said: “You can’t ask what my favourite is. It’s like asking what’s your favourite child!”

But Paul added: “I love them all, but it’s The Old Sessions House for me.”