YET another "super pub" is to be built in Lancaster city centre the Citizen can reveal.

Developers have targeted a key site on North Road, currently home to JJB Sports, and have submitted plans for a large caf bar.

The proposal also includes relocating JJB Sports to the first and second floors and building a new retail unit on the corner of North Road and Rosemary Lane.

Exact details of the ambitious scheme have yet to be released and the Manchester-based agents, Higham and Co, are keeping tight-lipped about which brewery will run the new caf bar.

News that yet another "super pub" will open in Lancaster has baffled local licensees who claim the city has already reached saturation point and that small, local boozers will suffer.

Five large pubs have opened in the city in the last two years.

But the developers claim the mixed development will attract further investment into the city and create jobs.

A spokesman said: "Currently the north face of the building is unsightly, particularly when viewed from Rosemary Lane. The development, which will involve an extension to the premises and the creation of a new unit, will visually uplift the area and will improve the appearance of the northern gateway into the city centre. It is hoped the development will attract more visitors into the city centre and, in particular, will act as an anchor to the North Road area of the city centre."

But one local publican commented: "What's happening in Lancaster is madness. It seems no one, even the police or the council, has the power to object to the giant breweries. There will be losers and it's bound to be the small pubs. They can't compete with the big boys and there's simply not enough business to go around, especially when the students are away."

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