A NEW restaurant and shisha lounge has created nearly 50 jobs in Southampton.

Aroma Lounge in Portswood Road which serves food, gelato and shisha has opened its doors to punters.

It has been built on the former premises of Portswood Halal Meat Centre.

The £1.3m project by 23-year-old former economics student at the University of Reading Faz Rabbani, includes a £500,000 refurbishment of the building.

It has created full and part-time jobs It will have nearly 30 different flavours of shisha in an outdoor area separate to the restaurant, cuisine from across the world and a gelato area featuring 30 different flavours.

Faz is already looking at plans to expand Aroma Lounge which could see two more being built in Hampshire.

He said: “I have always been to different shisha places across the country and Southampton has been missing something like this.

“It is very good for the local economy both in Portswood and in Southampton; I do not think there is anything like it on the south coast.”

Faz says he understands there may be some who might have health concerns about smoking shisha.

But he added: “As much as some families may not like the shisha element we have designed the restaurant to be completely separate from the shisha area.”

He has also urged people to ensure they exhale the smoke rather than inhale to make it less “detrimental” to health.

Aroma Lounge has also employed a team of six supervisors who are experts in shisha, to ensure people are doing it in a “safe and responsible” way.

It will be open seven days a week from 8am to midnight.

WHAT IS SHISHA?

Shisha is a water-pipe, popular in many Arab countries, in which fruitscented tobacco is burnt using coal, passed through an ornate water vessel and inhaled through a hose.

More Southampton stories: