OPERATORS bidding to open a £1.25m Chicago Rock Cafe in Trowbridge have been told it is just what the town needs.

The company behind the cafe, which will bring 36 new jobs, won vital support when director Steve Dennis visited the town last week to explain what it wants to do.

Luminar Leisure is bidding to create a 500-place cafe, bar and restaurant venue in the halls behind Mackays store, off Silver Street.

The cafe is aimed at the over-twenties and will encourage children and families to visit during the day.

The scheme now depends on winning planning permission and being granted a public entertainment licence to operate.

But the cafe plan has already notched up valuable support in the town.

Town development manager Daryl Saville Brown said the feeling was that Trowbridge could only benefit from having a Chicago Rock cafe.

She said: "The very fact that somebody wants to invest £1.25m into this town and give us something that we don't have is excellent

"It will provide something for families and older people as they are aiming at the 30-plus age range.

"This is a large company which already has 260 outlets and knows exactly what it is doing."

Town and district councillor Jeff Osborn said he had been won over by the Luminar presentation.

He said: "Originally I was opposed to it because I thought it was just another application to open a club, but that was something of a knee-jerk response.

"From what we have heard, this would be a beacon establishment, something for the rest of the town's pubs and clubs to aim for."