The Denver, US-based burrito restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill is to open its first location in the UK.

Design and building plans are currently being finalised for a site at 114-116 Charing Cross Road in London's West End, which is scheduled to open in April next year. It will also be the company's first restaurant in Europe. Steve Ells - founder, chair and co-ceo of Chipotle - said: "London has become an important food city over the years, especially because of the awareness of and desire for things like locally sourced, seasonal, and artisanal ingredients.

"These are all core values of Chipotle. We call it 'Food with Integrity' and it is how we are changing the way people think about fast food. We believe Londoners will appreciate our efforts to serve food that is raised right and in a way that is so accessible." In the US, Chipotle claims to be one of the only restaurant chains committed to serving food made with ingredients from sustainable sources. These include meat from animals that are humanely raised, never given antibiotics or added hormones and fed a pure vegetarian diet, plus local and organic produce and milk from cows that are not treated with synthetic hormones.

All the company's 900-plus restaurants - of which the first opened in 1993 - offer a limited menu consisting of burritos, tacos and salads. Because customers choose exactly what goes into their individual order, however, Chipotle claims there are more than 60,000 possible combinations available. The company has further revealed that, beyond its interest in the UK, it has also looked at sites in both Paris and Munich but has neither identified specific sites nor released timelines for such expansion.