Pub chain Wetherspoons is planning to open another of its bars in Birmingham city centre.

The group has submitted a licence application for a vacant unit at the Station Street entrance of New Street station.

If granted, it will be battling for customers against All Bar One and a host of other places to eat and drink at the station and Grand Central shopping centre which celebrates its second birthday next month.

The concourse-level unit, which is owned by Network Rail and sits next to one of John Lewis' entrances, is also opposite the site of a planned new 26-storey Bloc hotel in Hill Street which received the green light last year.

Letting of the unit, which has never had an occupier since the revamped station opened in 2015, will provide a welcome boost to the transport hub and also Grand Central's owner Hammerson after recent stories highlighting the volume of empty units upstairs there and apparent discontentment among some tenants.

The Bridge pub on the walkway of the old New Street station
The Bridge pub on the walkway of the old New Street station

The most recent high-profile departure was Handmade Burger Company which was recently acquired out of administration but at the cost of some of its restaurants, including the one in Grand Central.

JD Wetherspoon will offer a cheaper alternative to some of the more high-end establishments in Grand Central and join its sister pubs The Briar Rose, in Bennetts Hill, and The Soloman Cutler, in Broad Street.

Wetherspoon was founded in 1979 and has built its reputation on low prices and no frills pubs which usually have no television screens or music playing.

It is also known for operating venues in places of high footfall and has a bar at the NEC in Solihull and also in the departure lounge at Birmingham Airport.