PUB company JD Wetherspoon is to open its first Oxford city centre pub after looking for a site for more than a decade.

The company, which has a pub in Cowley, The William Morris, has bought the former Slug and Lettuce in George Street after the owners went into administration in March.

It is hoping to open the new pub by August after a £200,000 refurbishment programme.

JD Wetherspoon chief executive John Hutson said: "We have always been looking for a site in the city centre and no doubt we will continue to look.

"With a city of a decent size like Oxford we feel there is room for maybe two or three Wetherspoons pubs. This one almost fell into our lap."

Mr Hutson said the company would be looking to spend four to six weeks revamping the pub and would be recruiting up to 40 full- and part-time staff.

He said: "It will give us very quickly and easily a pub slap bang in the heart of the city but we will still continue to look for another site - although we anticipate that may be slightly harder."

Area manager Heath Curley added: "We are looking forward to opening our first pub in Oxford city centre and are confident that it will be an asset to the city.

"We have been keen to open in the heart of the city for a number of years and it is great that we have secured such an excellent site which we believe will be popular with locals, students and tourists alike."

Although the pub will be in the middle of Oxford's city centre saturation policy zone, which prohibits new licensed premises opening, as it was previously a bar it will be unaffected by the restriction.

Last year, George Street hit national headlines after being branded "vomit alley" in a national report by Oxford college head Lord Krebs, of Jesus College, following problems with 'binge-drinking'.

But Karen Crossan, Nightsafe manager for the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership, said the addition of a new bar was not a cause for concern.

She said: "They have got the same conditions that the Slug and Lettuce had and they were quite stringent.

"We will be monitoring them and if there are issues with the premises they would be brought in for a review.

"We work closely with every premises and we have already made contact with them and there will be ongoing meetings with them as we have with all premises in the city."

Wetherspoons is seeking a name with local connections for the new pub and has come up with three possible options.

They are The Four Candles, a reference to a famous comedy sketch by Ronnie Barker - who went to school in George Street - and Ronnie Corbett; TE Lawrence, after Lawrence of Arabia, who was also a pupil at the same school; or Bishop Trellick, which would resurrect the name of a pub behind George Street which closed decades ago to make way for college buildings.

To express a preference, email news@eddiegershon.com