Restaurant group Gondola Holdings has introduced an iPhone app that allows customers to pay for meals at all of its 370 Pizza Express restaurants.

It is one of the first such apps introduced by a restaurant in the UK and the first designed for a large chain.

From today, each bill at Pizza Express will include a 12-digit unique code which customers can use to pay their bill at any point during the meal.

The free-to-download app accepts both paypal and credit cards and once a payment has been processed, the restaurant's point of sale system is notified that the bill has been settled - with a receipt being emailed to the customer.

The App can also be used to find and book a restaurant, view menus and to store discount vouchers issued by the chain.