New national Wetherspoon museum opening in Wolverhampton after plans backed
The Moon Under Water pub will be revamped and a 70-bedroom hotel created above in the £7m project.
A £7 million scheme to revamp a city centre Wetherspoons and build a 70-bedroom hotel above it has been approved.
The building which houses the Moon Under Water pub on Lichfield Street, will undergo a major transformation, including the creation of a Wetherspoons museum.
The pub will be expanded and the floor above it, which has sat redundant for the last 30 years, will be converted into a hotel.
The project has been signed off by Wolverhampton Council and brings the latest boost to the city just days after a new arts venue next to the Grand Theatre across the road was given the green light.
It means more major changes for that part of the city centre, where the train station is being redeveloped.
Around 50 jobs are expected to be created as part of the £7m development.
Wolverhampton Council leader Roger Lawrence said the development would be another positive move for the city.
He said: "Clearly this is a significant development on a major gateway to the city centre which has been neglected for far too long. We are really pleased they are developing this.
"They will be creating an outside seating area within the building so people don't spill out onto the pavement like they do at the moment. It's not very nice for people coming up from the station having to go past people waiting outside the pub so that's going to be a real improvement.
"This is a really big investment and another positive for the city."
The Moon Under Water has also been chosen as the home of Wetherspoons national museum. The attraction will tell the history of the hugely successful company founded in 1979 by businessman Tim Martin, which now operates around 900 pubs and is known nationwide.
During a recent visit to the region, Mr Martin said he chose Wolverhampton to house a museum about the pub chain as it is a "growing city".
The 40,000 sq ft space above the pub, with its art deco frontage, has been empty for more than 30 years. It was previously home for the old Co-op store which opened in 1931.
The vast five-storey building, where The Moon Under Water is based on the ground floor, takes up half of one side of Lichfield Street but only the pub is based there currently. Its neighbour, the old O’Connells closed around five years ago.
