THE opening of a new Starbucks in central Bournemouth tomorrow will bring 22 jobs to the town.

The branch in Richmond Hill is being opened by two businessmen who were the first Starbucks franchisees in the world when they opened their first branch last year.

Mark Hepburn and Anil Patil, directors of 23.5 Degrees, opened their first Starbucks in Liphook, Hampshire in February 2013. Their third branch was situated at Bournemouth’s Triangle and Richmond Hill is their 10th.

Mr Hepburn said business at the Triangle store, which opened last year, had been good. “Bournemouth was a priority for us.

“It’s a great town, it’s busy, it’s cosmopolitan, it’s got a great university and there were no stores,” he said.

Mr Hepburn and Mr Patil identified the potential to knock two units into one on Richmond Hill – the former Bournemouth Jeans Store and the former Barroccoa coffee shop.

They approached Starbucks with the proposal for the new franchise, which is a stone’s throw from the Square.

Staff have all been recruited locally, with a number of people from the Triangle branch promoted to managerial and shift-running duties.

The franchising model sees the franchisees taking on the costs of opening a branch, with Starbucks supporting the business and supervising the store design, development and operation.

Mr Hepburn said: “With franchises, you get passionate business people on site that really want to make the business model work but also serve the customers and want to give the real Starbucks experience to the customer.”

The store opens at 7am tomorrow, with the mayor of Bournemouth, Cllr Chris Mayne, performing an official opening at 2pm.

Its regular opening hours will be 7am to 8pm on weekdays and 8am to 8pm at weekends.