A South American themed restaurant is planning to come to Preston city centre.

Cafune – with a Brazilian Portuguese menu – has applied to open looking onto the city’s Flag Market.

Formerly a salon and briefly a handbag shop the restaurant would be spread over both floors – and operate next door to Scrumptious.

Cafune’s owners also want to have seating out the front and the first floor window would be expanded in size.

The unit has been empty for over a year and would be a boost for Preston City Council’s plans to have a more European-style Flag Market with cafes facing onto it.

More than 13 jobs would be created by the restaurant which would have restricted opening times.

It would open from 7.30am to 7pm on weekdays and from 8am to 7pm on Saturdays and 10.30am – 3.30pm on Sundays.

Husband and wife team Sean Kiernan and Ana Livia M Almeida Kiernan are behind the venture.

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Livia is from Brazil and Mr Kiernan said: “Together we decided that there is is just too much that the continent has to offer and we needed to introduce it to the UK market.

“It is our aim to give people the opportunity to experience some of the flavours and culture from the continent.

“We will do this by introducing new food items such as Arepa, Coxinha and Açai currently unavailable in Preston and even bigger nearby cities such as Manchester. This will also be combined with selling better known products from the region such as coffee and fruit juices.

“We believe that this project will add even more value to the city centre and add some culture. We hope that you can share our opinion that this will help the all round diversity and options that Preston has to offer.”

Read more: New burger bar to open in the city centre

A change of use application has been tabled to the city council.

What do you think of the plans? Would you go to a South American restaurant? Let us know in the comments below