Subway’s expansion plans are gathering pace after its Midlands development agents announced plans to open 59 new stores.

Brother and sister team James and Andrea Fleck, who are development agents for the franchise sandwich chains in Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcester and Warwickshire, said they planned to increase the number of stores from 65 to 124 over the next three years, creating around 885 new jobs.

The news follows an announcement by Subway co-founder Fred DeLuca last year, revealing plans to increase the number of UK stores to 2000 by 2015, creating 6,000 new jobs. To achieve growth across the five counties, the Flecks will be looking to recruit nearly 40 new franchisees.

There are currently 1,684 Subway stores in the UK, almost a fivefold increase on the 2004 store count. Last month saw the brand announce the 40,000th Subway location in the world at an AppleGreen petrol filling station in Ipswich, England.

Subway’s development agents in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire announced last year that they planned to open 35 new stores in five years, taking the total number of outlets in the region to 69.

James Fleck said: “The planned expansion will not only provide a significant boost to the local employment market but also give entrepreneurs the opportunity to establish their own small business.