A run-down vacant pub in the city's Gun Quarter which turns 110 this year could be renovated into a restaurant or café and flats for students.

New plans have been lodged to regenerate the three-storey King Edward Inn, also known as The Ben Johnson, on the corner of Corporation Street and Staniforth Street.

The locally listed pub opened in 1905 and celebrated its centenary a decade ago before closing down.

Isaac Court, a company registered in Selly Oak, is working with Jewellery Quarter-based C14 Designs on the project which comprises a 548 sq ft restaurant or café on the ground floor and two six-bedroom flats on the first and second floors.

The project, one of many recent schemes to renovate old pubs, is expected to create six full- and part-time jobs.

A report by C14 said: "The restaurant will utilise the existing entrance at the corner of the building while student accommodation will be accessed via Staniforth Street.

"Internally, the former smoking room behind the main bar area will be converted into a seating area while the courtyard will be used for bin storage.

"Externally, no significant alterations or changes are proposed to the existing building except ventilation ducts (but) significant repairs are required to the main pitched roof and flat roofs as well as dome above the clock tower.

"It is proposed to restore ground floor stained glass windows to its original appearance."

C14's report said the interior of the pub would require "significant repair work and redecoration" following damage caused by leaks and vandalism while wiring and plumbing had been stolen and existing furniture was "beyond repair".

Construction of the King Edward Inn was commissioned by Birmingham-based pub chain Mitchells & Butlers with local architects Wood and Kendrick which had also designed other buildings for the brewery.

The pub is considered in keeping with late Victorian and Edwardian buildings of that time and also reflects Wood and Kendrick's approach to pubs, representing an important architectural era in which the city underwent significant transformation.

C14 said some of the building's key original features remained intact including redbrick and buff terracotta façade, the stained glass windows and clock tower above the main entrance.

Internally, the layouts of all floors have remained unchanged since it was built despite it undergoing renovation programmes however some Edwardian features including furniture were removed during the 1970s.

It closed in 2000 and reopened five years later in its centenary year, reverting back to its original name from The Ben Johnson.

Although by no means the largest of the current crop of student accommodation projects in Birmingham, this part of the Gun Quarter has become a hub for developers targeting the city's universities, particularly nearby Aston and Birmingham City.

In recent years, developments such as Studios 51, The Penworks, Sanctuary Students and The Heights have all opened in the area around Bagot Street.

And earlier this month, London-based developer and operator Knightsbridge Student Housing received the green light to demolish Charter House in Legge Street and build a ten-storey block containing 534 bedrooms.