A BEER shop in York has plans to expand its horizons and open a micro pub.

Hop O’Clock opened in July last year in Colliergate selling a variety of beers and lagers and now they want to have a mini pub in the front room.

The have submitted an application to City of York Council and, should they get the green light, managing director, Jimmy Hoggar, said he'd like to see the changes made by the start of May at the latest.

He said: "We'll still be primarily a shop selling craft beer, but with a micro pub in the front room.

"It will be very small with eight chairs giving our customers the option to sit in and have a drink.

"When we originally opened we were thinking we'd get a licence to do this.

"The business is going well both me and my wife are enjoying it, we've got a nice customer base and if we get the go-ahead for this, we're going to be able to offer a little bit more."

Before they opened the shop, Jimmy, along with his wife, Julia Virpis, a director at Hop O'Clock, had been working in and travelling around Europe, but Jimmy said his wife loved York when they visited and so they decided to move to the city.

The store was formerly occupied by curiosity shop Pandora’s Box.

Craft beer fan Jimmy said: “Colliergate is a lovely street. There’s quite a big craft beer scene already in York - there are a lot of pubs."

In the future, Jimmy hopes the shop will host beer tastings and artists and musicians for events.

When asked about the name, the shop owner said he and his wife thought the name had a "ring to it" and they have added a clock accessory to the wall made from the top of a beer hop. Hop O'Clock is open from 11am-9pm.