LATE-night drinking looks dead and buried in Old Town’s Godwin Court retail district, with plans for a restaurant at former nightclub The Spot.

The Spot closed in September 2013, with general manager John Edmonds citing slow trading as the reason.

The property has been under the control of Ridgevale Estates.

The three-storey building was marketed at £700,000 by agents Kilpatrick & Co and is in line for a facelift.

The first and second floors, previously bar areas in the nightclub, will be transformed into 10 one-bedroom studio apartments, while the ground floor will accommodate a restaurant.

Jas Gill, the owner of Ridgevale, which runs a variety of hotels, bed and breakfast establishments and Swindon Borough Council accommodation, said negotiations with a restaurant tenant were at an advanced stage.

The conversion plans were approved by the council earlier this month, and the apartments will be targeted at professionals looking for short and long-term leases.

Mr Gill wants to keep professional people spending their money in Swindon and he hopes opening a restaurant will help make Godwin Court a popular dining destination.

Asiana, which opened across the car park in March last year, hopes it too will benefit from any new business venture cropping up at the former home of The Spot.

PR manager Parvynder Hibbert said: “It’s only going to bring more walking traffic to this area.

“We don’t see it as a negative at all. If there is anything we can do as a business to help we are on board.

“Our attitude towards this Old Town community is there’s enough for everyone here.

“This is only going to bring footfall to this area.

“We have been open nearly a year now and the number of people walking past, parking here, never even notice what’s around them.

“It feels like the foot traffic is always going somewhere in a rush.

“In the day especially, a lot of the foot traffic I see and speak to, they’re already just parking up to get to a meeting or a shop.

“It would be nice for people to see this area as a place to spend a day, have a look at the venues open during the day.”

The plans for the apartments include the provision of five car parking spaces and 10 cycle spaces.