TWO dedicated Tim Hortons fans waited overnight outside the Canadian fast-food chain's new Weston-super-Mare restaurant and drive-thru to win a year's supply of hot drinks.

Troy Peters, a local student, became the first person to join the drive-thru queue at the new site at 5pm last night to claim his prize of two medium drinks every day for the next year. 

Ex-Marine Rob French received the same prize by becoming the first walk-in guest to arrive at the new store at 10pm - nine hours before the store opened to the public for the first time at 7am.

The Weston-super-Mare site is located at The Poches Pocket, Weston Links, opposite a McDonald's restaurant and drive-thru.

Its launch this morning made it the first Tim Hortons restaurant and drive-thru in Somerset and means customers can now get their hands on its products, including Iced Capps, doughnuts, Timbits, chicken sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, and lattice fries.

Bridgwater Mercury: TIM HORTONS: Weston-super-Mare has a new fast-food restaurant and drive-thruTIM HORTONS: Weston-super-Mare has a new fast-food restaurant and drive-thru

The franchise will run a month of giveaways including free hot drinks and doughnuts, plus deals including any breakfast meal for £2.99. 

The promotions will be available to anyone with an activated Tim Hortons card, which can be redeemed by scanning a QR code within the store or clicking on this link on a mobile device.

Kevin Hydes, chief commercial officer of Tim Hortons in the UK, said: "There’s been a lot of excitement surrounding this launch as our opening today marks our first venture into Somerset.

"Our fresh, quality, round the clock offering makes our brand so special and we are confident we will become a staple for fans in the area.

"We’ve recruited a fantastic team that have been working hard to give all our customers the experience we’re so well-known for and we look forward to welcoming everyone for the first time."

Tim Hortons arrived in the UK in 2017 and now has 48 restaurants, including a flagship site in Leicester. 

If the chain's Weston-super-Mare store is a success, it could open more sites in Somerset. 

Speaking to the Bridgwater Mercury ahead of today's launch, Kevin said: "We’d like to be open in other places as well in the area, and it will certainly be interesting to see how this one does and then, hopefully, we’ll be opening more restaurants in the future.

"Where we’ve been opening restaurants across the UK, we’ve often opened a single site in a new area.

"When they’ve been really successful, we’ve opened additional sites to satisfy the demand level."

Read more: SNEAK PEEK: Inside Somerset's first Tim Hortons ahead of Thursday's launch