City of York Council bosses have received their latest alcohol licence application - from a church.

They may already be used to the power of the spirit, but now the congregation of St Mary and St Nicholas Parish Church, in Wigginton, York, could be officially worshipping in licensed premises, complete with their own "landlord".

But traditionalists can rest easy - the church is not swapping bread and wine for beer and pork scratchings.

Instead, they say the application is a cost and time-saving measure, to prevent them having to apply for a string of expensive one-off licences.

"There will be nothing like manic pub groups in the back room, blasting away until 11pm," said applicant and former churchwarden John Tugwell, before adding: "There will be no pole dancing or anything like that."

Mr Tugwell said it cost the church £240 a year to buy 12 temporary event licences, but it would cost only £70 for an all-year licence, so it had applied to the city council for the latter.

He said wine was sold at some entertainment events, meaning the church needed a licence. It also needed one to host plays, films, live and recorded music, dancing and indoor sports.

Mr Tugwell, who will technically be the landlord, said: "We will sell alcohol, but there will be no bar. Things are not going to change from the last year. We are not going to do anything fantastic like rock bands.

"It just puts us on a level like other village halls that are licensed for entertainment.

"We only have a small hall. We expect if people get up and dance it would be spontaneous rather than an arranged dance. The hall is only five metres by seven metres, so it's more like a glorified meeting room."

Asked who would use the licence, Mr Tugwell said: "It's basically church groups. We have a recorder orchestra that comes and practises, and people come to listen to them.

"We sometimes put on festivals. We run holiday clubs for children with plays and pantomimes put on, so technically that has to be licensed because we are putting on a play."

Mr Tugwell said the church had applied for a seven-day, 9am-11pm licence for simplicity, rather than picking different hours for different days. He said: "Anything going on before 6pm is highly unusual, especially for the sale and provision of alcohol. The general bulk would be early evening stuff, and I work so would want to be away by midnight!"

The church's application can be viewed by contacting the city council.