Coventry’s controversial restaurant quarter could be ready for a long-awaited lift-off.

Coventry City Council gave Bull Yard a massive makeover last year and marketed several properties as potential café bars.

But there were no takers and the Brown Bag Deli, which was already up and running before the quarter was created, is the only food outlet in the square.

That could be about to change. Pam Edgson, who owns and runs the Bus Stop café in the Arcade, is poised to take over a unit in the former Jones Bros shoe shop.

And Intershop, on the corner of Bull Yard, could also be turned into an eaterie.

Martin Bullock, the council’s assistant director property, said another unit was also set to be re-advertised.

He said:

"The problem with Bull Yard is that national chains have their specific requirements and if they are not met then they are not interested and a lot of units there are too small for them.

"But we are now going to re-market the former Escom unit for restaurant use and are hopeful something will come of that. We have also been approached by lease holders of Intershop but it is up to them if they finally do a deal or not and it changes use."

Mr Bullock said the council had set a target number of new restaurants and cafes it wanted to attract into the city centre and that some may well move into Spon Street when Rank Entertainment’s new SkyDome leisure development opens next month.

"In the Coventry Community Plan the target was 20 new restaurants in the city over a five year period and we are well on the way to that.

"I think, as with many new developments, people will look closely at how SkyDome draws people in and will then decide to move into the Spon Street area."