£1m pub plans could boost jobs

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon is in talks to open a new £1 million pub in Shrewsbury, which could create up to 40 jobs.

The firm, famous for its cut price deals, would spend a seven figure sum to transform a unit of the town's Pride Hill Shopping Centre if negotiations are successful and plans are approved.

It would be the second Wetherspoon pub in the town with the Shrewsbury Hotel already in operation overlooking the River Severn.

The chain said talks were also still ongoing between the company and the leaseholder with a deal needing to be struck before the pub could be created in a unit, which previously housed a branch of C&A. It is currently a walkway into the shopping centre.

Plans were submitted by the company to Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council last week, with a decision on the proposals expected before November 7.

Eddie Gershon, a spokesman for JD Wetherspoon, said: "Wetherspoon has already got an existing pub in Shrewsbury and another in Bridgnorth.

"It's an area which we like and are always looking for more sites. This is a vacant unit within the shopping centre. We are still in negotiations with the leaser over it. It's a site we're very much interested in but we still need to agree terms."

Mr Gershon said that if the pub did open it would look different to the existing Shrewsbury Hotel, while being run to the same standard.

"If it did go ahead there would certainly be an investment in excess of £1 million with the creation of about 40 jobs," he said.