A NEW indoor axe throwing venue looks set be opening in the city's historic Arches after plans were given the green light by the council.

The yet-to-be-named venue will open in a vacant unit in Worcester’s Victorian Arches in Netherton Court next to the Arch Rivals micropub and would include eight lanes across two floors to give visitors the chance to throw axes into a wooden target.

Daniel Charlton, who runs outdoor activity centre Action Adventures in Cradley in Herefordshire, said he was looking to expand and saw the soon-to-be-refurbished Arches as the perfect place to grow his business.

A project to completely refurbish and open up the railway arches to make it a cultural and artistic destination was put forward by the city council last year.

The major multi-million-pound plans were approver earlier this month and the project aims to revitalise the area and create a cultural quarter by opening up five of the arches as creative spaces.

The regeneration work was expected to start at the end of the summer with a likely finish date of early next year but may now be affected by the coronavirus.

A new table tennis themed bar called Back and Forth could take over two vacant units off Farrier Street, if those plans are given the go-ahead by Worcester City Council in the next couple of months.

The new bar, which would replace two currently empty units one of which was previously occupied by a bike repair shop on the so-far-underdeveloped side of the historic railway arches, would be converted to be used for ping-pong games and would serve alcohol and snacks.

The work is part of a wider plan to create a link between Foregate Street station and the River Severn via the Hive. The work, which will cost around £4.5 million and includes four new festivals, has gone ahead thanks to a £3 million government grant.