Belgian bakery and café chain Le Pain Quotidien has opened a store in Parsons Green, west London - its third new outlet in the capital this year.

The company is also on track to open another in Covent Garden in September, which will bring its number of shops in the UK to 14, all of which are based in London.

Run as a master franchise in the UK and Ireland by Village du Pain, Le Pain Quotidien is likely to begin looking for sites outside the capital in 2010, according to regional manager Ruben Mendoza.

"We intend to carry on growing the business with new openings, but don’t have a set number of stores in mind. It’s early days for us as a company, so we are trying to expand at the right rate and that depends on what is happening in the market," he said.

Le Pain Quotidien was established in the early 1990s in Brussels by chef Alain Coumont and launched in the UK in 2005. The stores sell a range of shop-made pastries and cakes, alongside sourdough loaves and baguettes, produced in Belgium and baked-off in-store.