Pub chain's revised expansion plans approved

Plans to add an extra 25 hotel rooms to a Weatherspoon's pub already subject to a major expansion project have been approved.

The pub chain has been granted planning permission for a £15m redevelopment of the Moon Under Water in Wolverhampton.

It plans to build a hotel and heritage centre, as well as expanding the pub and adding a garden terrace.

Now councillors have also approved adding a further 21 rooms in a newly built fourth storey, and four rooms in an extension over an existing flat roof.

Eddie Gershon, from Wetherspoons, said the company was "delighted" at the decision.

Under the plans, approved last September, the heritage centre for the company would be built in the in the basement.

The first, second and third floors would be converted into a 71-bedroom hotel, and the inside of the pub would be refurbished and expanded on the ground floor with the addition of a first-floor rear garden terrace and new shopfront.

The current 40,000-sq-ft (3,716-sq-m) space above the pub, with an Art Deco frontage, has been empty for more than 33 years after being home to the old Co-op store, the council said.

The redevelopment of the Lichfield Street venue, will generate around 70 new jobs, the pub chain has said.

City of Wolverhampton Council leader Stephen Simkins said the plans "will breathe new life into an empty space at the heart of the city centre".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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