A BESPOKE furniture workshop looks set to become the latest addition to the city's arches, new plans show.

Plans put forward show how one of the arches off Farrier Street would be converted into a workshop for bespoke furniture and fittings.

The workshop, to be named Archworks, would be used to make bespoke furniture, shop fittings and garden structures and sculptures.

The currently vacant space would be used for design as well as production with woodwork, metalwork and welding.

The hours of operation would be 8am to 6pm every day.

If approved, the new workshop could join several other new businesses who are looking to open in the city's historic arches - including a ping-pong bar and an axe-throwing venue.

The yet-to-be-named axe-throwing venue would open in a vacant unit next to the Arch Rivals micropub, if plans are approved, and would include eight lanes across two floors to give visitors the chance to throw axes into a wooden target.

Daniel Charlton, who runs outdoor activity centre Action Adventures in Cradley in Herefordshire, said he was looking to expand and saw the soon-to-be-refurbished Arches as the perfect place to grow his business.

A new table tennis themed bar called Back and Forth would take over two vacant units off Farrier Street, if those plans are given the go-ahead by Worcester City Council in the next couple of months.

The new bar, which would replace two currently empty units one of which was previously occupied by a bike repair shop on the so-far-underdeveloped side of the historic railway arches, would be converted to be used for ping-pong games and would serve alcohol as well as provide good-quality, locally sourced snacks.

A project to completely refurbish and open up the railway arches to make it a cultural and artistic destination was put forward by the city council last year.

The major multi-million-pound plans were approver earlier this month and the project aims to revitalise the area and create a cultural quarter by opening up five of the arches as creative spaces.

The regeneration work was expected to start at the end of the summer with a likely finish date of early next year but may now be affected by the coronavirus.

The work is part of a wider plan to create a link between Worcester Foregate Street station and the River Severn via the Hive.

The work, which will cost around £4.5 million and includes four new festivals, has gone ahead thanks to a £3 million government grant.

The plans for the new workshop can be viewed via the planning section of Worcester City Council's website.

The application number is 20/00224/FUL.

A public consultation deadline has not yet been given.