A PUB chain may pump £1 million into Maidstone by opening a second pub in the town centre. JD Wetherspoon has applied for a Justices' Licence to run a pub in Week Street.

The company already has planning permission to turn part of Brenchley House into its latest hostelry and said it was ready to pour £1 million into the venture. It has bought two ground floor units, previously a furniture shop and a one hour photo developers, on the condition that a licence is granted.

If magistrates give Wetherspoon a Justices' Licence at a hearing on Wednesday, November 14, the pub could open within six to eight months. A spokesman for Wetherspoon said the new pub would not affect its other town centre watering hole, the Muggleton Inn, High Street.