This is the first glimpse of a new restaurant at Accrington and Rossendale College to be built as part of a £5 million centre.

Plans for the ‘Roots’ restaurant were unveiled at the college’s open evening and will form part of the Heartwood Centre.

The Roots restaurant, which is currently Eatery 1853, based at the Globe Centre in Accrington, will be moving back to its roots once the multi-million pound centre has been completed in August 2015.

Sue Taylor, principal of Accrington and Rossendale College, said: “We are very proud of our outstanding campus and facilities and continue to invest in providing the best for all our current and future students.

“The new Roots restaurant will give our students a state-of-the-art facility in which they can learn and succeed.

“It will also give our wider community a superb local restaurant.”

The Observer revealed earlier this year how plans for a new ‘visitor economy centre’ had been submitted and approved by the council offering hundreds of new apprenticeships and further training places.

Councillors approved the proposals at a planning committee meeting in August despite some concerns from residents over traffic congestion, noise pollution and the impact on the sewer systems.

The multi-purpose 1,741sqm building will house a high-quality restaurant and retail outlet, dining and conference facilities and training facilities.

It will also include the College’s travel and tourism, financial services and business and logistics department.