JANINE Allis, the Australian founder of Boost Juice Bars, made her first visit to Manchester as it emerged that a lease has been signed for the first UK Boost bar at the Trafford Centre.

Former Millies Cookies chief Richard O'Sullivan has teamed up with Janine for the project.

The first bar at Trafford will open in February. Outlets in Nottingham and Oxford will follow soon after, Richard said.

Mother-of-three Janine, who began Boost Juice from her kitchen, said: "I am thrilled to have found someone as passionate and committed as Richard to be our franchise partner in the UK.

"We are rolling the concept out worldwide, but we will make sure we get things right as we do this.

"I would rather have 20 stores that are absolutely pumping than 100 stores for the sake of numbers."

The company sells a range of fresh fruit juices and smoothies that contain no preservatives, artificial flavours or colours and are low in fat. Boost Juice has grown from a single store in 2000 to a chain of 170 throughout Australia.

In the run-up to the launch, Richard and his family decamped from their Bury home to Australia, where he learned the nuts and bolts of the business, working in a Boost Juice bar in Melbourne.

He said: "I am going to dedicate the next decade of my life to building this business up, it's tremendously exciting.

"We were in Australia for six weeks and had a fantastic time." Irish-born Richard, an adopted Mancunian, said there was "never any doubt" that he would launch Boost Juice from Manchester: "It's a wonderful city and I am proud to live here."