PLANS for a York pub to have its interior revamped have been given the go-ahead.

The Graduate on Lendal will be renamed The Old Bank.

Stonegate Pubs - the company that runs the venue - has applied for planning permission to refurbish the interior of the building as part of a refurbishment project.

The plans include upgrading the bars on the ground and lower floors, new furniture and lighting and redecorating the interior.

A statement says: "The proposed works essentially involve modest alterations and general refurbishment and redecoration of the interior and exterior of these existing public house premises, together with proposed garden/yard works, as part of the applicant’s rebranding and refreshment of these premises.

"The proposed internal alterations and refurbishment works are considered to be sympathetic in design, form and materials and are modest and appropriate in nature and scale and do not directly affect any significant historic fabric.

"These internal proposals are to generally refurbish and refresh the interior décor of the public house and no alterations are proposed to any historic fabric or the existing plan form."

The owners say the pub has suffered a loss in income and the rebrand is designed to attract more customers.

The Graduate opened in 2011, in the building that had previously been the student Varsity bar.

Before that the building had been housing, shops and then a bank during the late 1900s, but was then converted into a pub.

The pub was extended at the back of the site when it became The Graduate. The venue is in two formerly separate buildings - one of which is Grade II*-listed.