DOZENS of jobs are due to be created with the planned opening of a new pub restaurant in Congleton.

The Devonshire Group is looking to open the venue by Easter 2000 on the site of the former Danesford children's home.

The pub restaurant is due to be developed by converting a Grade Two listed building on the site, which is also being turned into a large new housing estate.

Willikam McLean, managing director of the Lancashire-based group behind the scheme, said he hoped to start work on the conversion within three months.

"There is lots of architectural merit in the building, and we want to keep the character," he said.

"We haven't chosen a name for the pub restaurant, which we would like to see reflect the history of Congleton.

"We may well run a competition to ask local people to come up with a suitable name."

The new pub restaurant would employ about 20 staff, he added, and would be the first Devonshire venture in the Congleton area.

"We have licensing permission, have submitted a planning application to the borough council, and are working with conservation and planning officers on the scheme," he said.

The Devonshire Group has 30 properties in the north of England, mainly pub restaurants, but also a number of hotels.

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