A LAST-MINUTE deal looks likely to save Morecambe's doomed Bubbles Leisure Complex.

Kalber Leisure, the Grimsby-based company which recently bought the Midland Hotel, has put forwards plans to turn the redundant leisure facility into a water-based family attraction.

Kalber and the city council are close to signing a deal in which the leisure firm purchases Bubbles on a long leasehold agreement and refurbishes it using its own cash.

The deal will cost the council nothing in the way of subsidies but the authority is keen to stipulate that the site must only be used for leisure - ruling out the possibility of housing at a later date.

If the deal falls through then Bubbles will almost certainly be demolished.

One of Kalber's directors, Lincoln Fraser, said: "We have expressed a significant interest in Bubbles with a view to making a significant investment to turn it into a superb aqua park. We want to push Bubbles up a level so that there's enough on the site to occupy a family enjoying a full day out. Whatever happens with the Bubbles negotiations will in no way impact on the Midland development."