WORK is to start next week on a £1.1 million pub in Hereford.

It will replace the old Kwik Save supermarket in Commercial Road and be opened for the first pint to be pulled at the end of February.

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon say its opening will provide 30 new and part-time jobs.

The company, which recently opened a pub in the former Post Office in Ross-on-Wye won planning permission for conversion of the old supermarket on appeal to the Department of the Environment.

Herefordshire Council and the police were against the proposal on the grounds that there were enough licensed premises in the area already.

At Leominster Magistrates Court, Wetherspoon was granted a licence for the premises and work on converting the Commercial Road premises will start next week.

Wetherspoon pubs have their own personal characteristics and these will apply in Hereford.

It will be free from music and have a ban on pool tables

About one-third of the customer area will be designated for no-smoking, the pub will be wheelchair accessible and have specially adapted toilets for disabled customers.

It will specialise in cask-conditioned beer, serving up to seven at all times from a range of brewers across the country.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said he was delighted to be granted the licence for a pub in Hereford.

"We believe people will be pleased to see the former supermarket site in use once again and that the pub will be a valuable addition to the area,'' he said.