Portsmouth players Craig MacGillivray and Bryn Morris mark opening of new Domino's Pizza

Domino’s Pizza has opened in Portsmouth in a ground floor unit in council-owned Illustrious House in Winston Churchill Avenue.

It is a Domino’s franchise, owned by Team Solent, which operates 28 branches across the UK.

It is one of three of the franchise’s stores that have a dine-in option, with several tables available to sit at and is a split of the existing Domino’s restaurant in Fratton.

The team of pizza chefs were joined by Portsmouth FC players Craig MacGillivray and Bryn Morris who took to the ovens to attempt to make the perfect pizza.

They were joined by Domino’s Solent Pizza’s area manager Zagros Jaff, who is Europe, Asia and the Middle East’s fastest pizza maker with a record of three pizzas in 33 seconds.

Zagros said: ‘We have been trying to open for a long time but finally we have managed to get it going. It is something we have been looking forward to for a long time.’

Solent Pizza’s marketing manager, Michelle Jay said: ‘We’re really excited to open up a new store so close to the university and to have Pompey involved in our local city store.

‘It will be really good value for money which will be especially handy as so many of our customers are students.’

The store is aiming to waste as little stock as possible and have pledged to giveaway faulty pizzas that would usually be put in the bin to homeless people and police working at Portsmouth Central Police Station.

There are 51 staff members already working at the restaurant, with a store manager with over 10 years experience.

Concerns were raised last year about the restaurant opening, after Portsmouth City Council councillors disagreed over whether it was right to open another fast-food chain.

There were also concerns about the traffic the restaurant would drive to the roundabout on which it sits.

The restaurant delivers until 5am every day, with the majority of its orders delivered by bicycle.

Staff said that around 50 per cent of their orders are in-store, compared to around 20 per cent in other stores around the city.