EIGHTY jobs look set to be created after a major restaurant chain applied for permission to open at the Middlebrook.

TGI Fridays has applied to Bolton Council for planning permission to turn the current Next ladies store in to a restaurant.

A letter submitted to the council as part of the plans states that the restaurant will create 80 jobs.

The restaurant will open in 2018, subject to approval.

All three of the current Next units at Middlebrook are set to move to a new superstore on land bordered by The Linkway and Aspinall Way.

The application is to change the units use from a shop to a restaurant, including takeaway and delivery services and an external seating area.

A cover letter from Graham Bee, group planning manager at The Emerson Group, the company that has submitted the application on behalf of TGI Fridays, said that the external seating area would be used for food and drinks.

It states: “Approval of the application would see the creation of around 80 jobs.

“Next are moving to their new larger unit (under construction) at Middlebrook in the very near future, so existing staff can also be relocated.

“TGI Fridays would be an excellent restaurant offer to have at Middlebrook and would be entirely complementary to the retail, restaurant and leisure uses that already exist.”

Next's move to its £12 million superstore will see all staff currently working at the Middlebrook units move across and will employ 220 people, seeing any additional roles offered to local residents.

TGI Fridays is currently in the process of introducing a to-go menu in the UK, and the application will allow this to be carried out from the Middlebrook.

Robert Hallworth, centre manager at Middlebrook Retail and Leisure Park, said: "It is part of the new Next flagship store that is going up.

"We've got interest in every site that Next is leaving. The first one that is going to be signed for is TGI Fridays which will compliment the mix of restaurants and leisure opportunities that we have got up here.

"We're very pleased. We're extremely positive going forward."