Wetherspoon is in discussions with Canterbury City Council about opening a hotel above one of its seafront pubs.

Officers from the local authority have revealed the chain harbours ambitions of opening an unspecified number of rooms above the Saxon Shore in Central Parade.

The council’s head of property and regeneration, Caroline Hicks, is hopeful the pub - which has more than 40 hotels across the UK - will decide to establish one on the Herne Bay coast.

“It’s Wetherspoon’s aspiration,” she said.

“We don’t have anything signed up, but nationally it’s investing in spaces above its pubs to create accommodation – it’s part of its business model.

“It makes sense for it to do that in a seaside town like Herne Bay, where we know there is already interest from the accommodation market.”

In May, the Sir Thomas Ingoldsby Wetherspoon in Canterbury opened 13 rooms following a £2.5 million renovation.

Ms Hicks says Wetherspoon has stated it would model a hotel at the Saxon Shore on its Sittingbourne branch, The Golden Hope.

It comes as the council prepares to submit a planning application for the multi-million pound regeneration of the former Tivoli Arcade in Central Parade.

The building, as well as the land behind it in Beach Street, will be turned into 33 homes, a shop and two workshops.

As part of this project, the council has been urging nearby firms to invest in their premises.

“We’re working with adjacent landowners, including Wetherspoon, about what they can do to invest in their own businesses,” Ms Hicks added.

“Wetherspoon opened the hotel in Canterbury – and it’s certainly what it is looking to do in Herne Bay.

“But it’d need better access to its building in order to do that.

“It’s a conversation that we’re having.”

When the city council bought the former Tivoli Arcade in March, it said that it hoped the purchase would open up the opportunity for Wetherspoon to invest in its upper floors.

But spokesman for the chain, Eddie Gershon, told KentOnline: “As yet, no deal has been agreed with the council, so we can’t offer any information.”