RESIDENTS at a city centre budget boozer could soon be experiencing the high life after its owners applied for permission to create a roof-top bar.

The proposal for a fourth-storey bar is for Brighton’s Bright Helm Wetherspoon pub in West Street.

The company is also looking to convert flats above the pub into hotel rooms to create what would be the first Wetherspoon hotel in the county.

A decision on the plans could be made as early as next month and would represent the second major investment by the firm in the city in a matter of weeks following confirmation Wetherspoon is also hoping to move into London Road.

The planning documents for the West Street pub outline how the roof-top bar would be housed in an expanded circular tower which already sits on the roof.

The applicant added the roof covering is currently in need of repair and upgrading.

The roof would also house a shelter for smokers to resolve the current issue of smokers gathering outside the main entrance because the pub has no beer garden.

The second and third floor flats, the majority of which are unoccupied, will be converted into 14 “letting bedrooms”.

The applicant is also seeking permission for a food hoist to take food from ground floor kitchens up to the new rooftop bar.

It follows an earlier application to refit one of the retail units in the former Co-op in London Road building which was submitted to the council last month.

The firm already has 35 hotels dotted around the country in resorts which include Wigan, Southend, Leighton Buzzard and Corby but none so far within Sussex.

A Wetherspoon spokesman said: “We can confirm that a planning application has been submitted, to add a small hotel and rooftop garden, to The Bright Helm.

“At this early stage, prior to the outcome of the planning decision and the project still awaiting the landlord’s permission, no further details are available.”