Plans have been submitted to open what would be a city centre’s sixth bubble tea outlet in a shut-down stationery store.

Brand T4 want to open a new location at the former Paperchase in Canterbury High Street.

It will be the sixth store of the same type in the area, and potentially the seventh if a similar application at a bus station is approved.

The other already open stores are Mooboo, Cha Lab, Ding Tea, Teastones Boba Hippy and Bubbleology.

T4 is a national chain with locations from Durham to London, and this will be their second Kent location, having already set up in Maidstone.

Some of the flavours on offer include pearl milk tea, lychee black tea and coffee jelly milk tea.

The business started in Taiwan in 2004, but bosses wanted to expand and “bring happiness to customers in the UK and worldwide”.

T4’s website states that they grow their tea leaves themselves in the Taiwanese mountains and create their recipes in small, controlled batches.

The new shop will have touch-screen ordering stations, neon lettering and a plant effect wall inside.

On the outside, it will stay the same muted green colour but will be adorned with a sign reading ‘tea for you’ and a window display screen.

The drink - thought to have first been made in Taiwan 40 years ago - is traditionally tea-based and contains chewy tapioca "pearls".

Paperchase closed all its branches earlier this year, citing that “despite a comprehensive sales process, no viable offers were received for the company, or its business and assets”.

However, Tesco did buy the brand and finally put its products on their shelves yesterday.

There are about 20 bubble tea shops around the county, with Canterbury becoming the capital for the treat, also known as Boba.

Traders in the district say its popularity has surged because children regard it as "their cocktail".