A THRIVING food quarter' is taking shape in Worcester city centre with the planned overhaul of a notorious 1960s landmark and the arrival of two major restaurants.

With Pizza Express reporting record profits since opening in College Street last July, the manager of Cathedral Plaza says the arrival of two popular Birmingham-based restaurant chains as part of the shopping mall's planned renovation will help create a bustling restaurant district on the south side of the city centre.

If planning permission is granted by Worcester City Council today, Cathedral Plaza will have its entire frontage revamped, with bosses promising to bring back some much needed "wow factor" to the drab 1960s exterior.

All the ground floor shops will be given makeovers similar to neighbouring Pizza Express, with The Handmade Burger Company set to open a large ground-floor restaurant in two of the units.

Upstairs, the former Giffard Hotel restaurant is to be expanded and brought back into use, with Midlands multi-ethnic' restaurant chain Jimmy Spices planning to open a vast open-plan eatery with impressive views of Worcester Cathedral from the huge first-floor window.

"This will change dramatically the way this end of the city looks," said John Kendrick, manager of Cathedral Plaza - formerly the Lychgate Shopping Centre.

"This development is going to have a wow' impact on the centre of the city.

"This is a very important next stage of our development. With the arrivals of these restaurants, along with Friar Street doing what it does so well and the success of Pizza Express, you can see a food quarter starting to take shape in this part of the city centre."

The exterior of the building will be altered dramatically by the plans, with the existing dark brown brickwork to be overclad. The plaza's planning application will go before the city's planning committee today, with the council's head of urban environment John Wrightson recommending that it is approved.

"The cumulative effect of the proposals would revitalise and enhance the appearance of the premises to the wider benefit of the area, and the setting of the cathedral," he states in his report.

The assistant manager of neighbouring Pizza Express said she was delighted at the prospect of a food quarter being established in the area, following the runaway success of her own restaurant.

"Being in Worcester has been brilliant for us," Sara Bott said.

"We have literally taken twice the amount of money we were expecting to, and we're now looking to put more kitchens in downstairs and maybe a bar area for people to sit, with live jazz and so on.

"I think its fantastic these other restaurants are coming. The idea of a food quarter is absolutely brilliant."