Proposal submitted for city hotel

The four-star hotel would cost £50m to develop

Plans have been submitted for a luxury four-star hotel in Liverpool next to the former Lewis's department store.

Developers Merepark are hoping to transform the Watson building and a neighbouring store on Renshaw Street in the city into a 180-bed hotel.

They say that an international operator has been secured for the project, which would cost about £50m.

In February plans were unveiled to turn the nine-storey Lewis's building into a £105m "leisure destination".

If planning permission is granted later this year, a hotel, cinema, bars, restaurants and shops will be built within the Grade II premises.

The plans, which could create up to 1,000 extra jobs, also include a new open pedestrian street which leads out onto a new plaza and connects into the Central Village development in the city.