Wahaca, Byron and Zizzi will form part of the £70m Watermark WestQuay development

Eateries Wahaca, Byron and Zizzi will form part of the £70m Watermark WestQuay development next to the existing WestQuay Shopping Centre.

Developer Hammerson’s announcement comes after construction work started on the site last week.

When work is completed next year, the site will contain a public plaza running alongside the medieval city walls and a row of restaurants and bars.

It will also contain a luxury Showcase Cinema de Lux, the first of its kind in the south, which will boast ten screens.

Five hundred jobs are expected to be created in the complex, while another 500 construction jobs will be created over the next two years.

A Byron burger

And a second phase of the development, which requires further planning permission, could contain a hotel, flats and a car park.

Now the first three restaurants have been announced which will take their place in the complex.

Wahaca will take a 291 sq m space to open only its third outlet outside of Greater London, with its only other restaurants outside the M25 being in Cardiff and Dartford.

The Mexican street food chain was the brainchild of Thomasina Miers, who won the 2005 edition of hit TV show Masterchef.

It will be joined by posh burger outlet Byron, which has a cluster of restaurants in London and 11 elsewhere in the country.

Founder Tom Byng says he was inspired to create the chain, which serves “proper hamburgers the way they should be” during a four-year stint in the United States.

Peter Bruton, Byron’s operations director, said, “We’re delighted to be making our debut in Southampton as part of such a landmark development for the city.

“Ever since we opened the first Byron seven years ago, I’ve been hoping for a chance to bring proper hamburgers to my hometown, and WestQuay Watermark is the ideal opportunity to do just that.”

Zizzi

Also joining the line-up is Zizzi, the Italian eatery which already has a restaurant in Winchester among its 159 outlets across the country.

Marc Ward, of Zizzi owners Gondola Restaurants, said: “Zizzi are delighted to have secured a site in this exciting development. Southampton has been a major target for some time and WestQuay Watermark will offer both leisure and retail business generators at the heart of the city.”