STOPPING off for a bite to eat on the way home is a key part of a big night out.

Now revellers in Southampton are swapping their kebabs and takeaways for something sweeter thanks to a new innovation – a late night ice-cream parlour.

Sprinkles Gelato in Portswood is proving a real scoop since it opened two months ago – particularly among the city’s student population.

The Portswood Road parlour has a late licence, which means it can stay open until midnight. Only the nearby kebab shops are open until the same time.

Co-manager Ibrahim Ahmed, 29, who runs the business with his brother Sharif, 42, said: “We are amazed at how many students come here. We really were not expecting it to be so popular. There is nowhere really where people can come and relax in Portswood without alcohol at this time, so we saw a gap in the market and went for it.

“We do not think the kebab shops are competition.

What we do is make desserts and many of our customers come here after having a kebab.”

With its purple walls and shiny decor, Sprinkles Gelato has the look of a colourful American diner.

But instead of serving up burgers it offers more than 35 flavours of ice-cream, including exotic combinations such as white chocolate and chilli and blue banana.

The parlour also has its own eating challenge – customers are dared to tackle a huge cone containing ten scoops of ice-cream. It costs £15 and punters have to try to eat it within ten minutes.

Mr Ahmed did all his market research in Italy, and made two trips to Bologna, where he learnt how to make gelato – traditional Italian ice-cream.

Now the 11 members of staff at the parlour are testing out new flavours every week. Mr Ahmed joked that they would even introduce a salmon flavour if customers wanted it.

The project is entirely new to Mr Ahmed, who has worked in the grocery trade for 16 years and co-manages two international food shops in Derby Road and Portswood Road.

A COOL CUSTOMER - Trainee journalist Tom Robinson took on the ten-scoop challenge:

IT was a challenge like no other.

I attempted to eat 10 scoops of ice cream in under ten minutes.

I was ready, or so I thought.

Walking into the American diner-style parlour, I was as confident as one could be when about to consume the weight of their own head in ice cream.

But my self-belief took a huge blow when I saw the size of the scoops.

But I continued with the challenge and put on a brave face.

The ice-cream at Sprinkles Gelato is really good; I really enjoyed hazelnut, fruits of the forest and white chocolate with pomegranate.

But by my thirtieth mouthful of apple pie I did start to feel as if I had had enough.

In the end I completed the challenge in 16 minutes, with a shivering belly full of ice-cream.