A POPULAR Italian tapas restaurant chain wants to open up the heart of Glasgow city centre.

La Vita Restaurants group have applied for planning permission to take over a unit on Gordon Street.

They want to open their popular La Vita Spuntini restaurant in a unit which was previously a retailer which sold rainwear.

In a planning statement, the group said that the shop unit is being sold due to the death of the founder of the retailer.

The statement said: "The proposed restaurant will be an Italian restaurant. "The client already has La Vita Spuntini in Byres Road which will be used as a model reference for this site."

The restaurant group also own La Vita on George Square and Bishopbriggs, and Piccolino E Vino in Newton Mearns.

They have applied for planning permission to change the use of the unit from retailer to restaurant.

A decision is expected for the plans in March.