A new boutique hotel is set to open in Brighton after receiving backing from Body Shop founders Anita and Gordon Roddick.

Hotel Du Vin has recently acquired Bar Centro in Ship Street and now plans to convert the premises into a 35-room hotel, bistro, and bar.

If the hotel wins planning permission it could open by September next year helping to create 40 new jobs.

Sussex-based entrepreneurs Anita and Gordon Roddick of Body Shop are among the backers of the £5.5 million project.

The Winchester-based hotel chain, which has just celebrated its seventh birthday, runs four other boutique hotels in southern England.

Robin Hutson, managing director, said the new hotel would boast sumptuous bedrooms and the best wine list in Brighton.

He added: "We've been looking for somewhere in Brighton for quite a while but lots of hotel premises I've seen are either too small or lacking in character whereas this is a very interesting building.

"I've always liked Brighton and I think it's really going places. I am very impressed with how it's been cleaned up over the last five years. It looks very good to me at the moment."

Although there were a lot of hotels in Brighton Mr Hutson insisted the Hotel Du Vin style was unique.

He added: "Our hotels are relaxed and very comfortable. They are high quality without charging through the roof. We are not a big, corporate, faceless hotel chain. It's much more personal.

"We will also try very hard to become part of the local community as we have done in our other hotels through charity work and supporting local sports."

He said the group had suffered little impact from either the foot-and-mouth epidemic or events in the US and Afghanistan, and pointed out all the shareholders had been happy to support the new venture.

He added: "We wouldn't be forging ahead with Brighton if we had any worries."