Sweet-toothed shoppers can look forward to the former Waterstones site in Brentwood possibly becoming the new home of a bakery chain.

Gail’s Bakery, which first opened in Hampstead in 2005 and now has 79 branches around the UK, has asked Brentwood Borough Council for permission to open at the High Street site.

It also wants to put chairs and tables on the pavement outside so patrons can take a well-earned rest while enjoying its offering.

The proposal comes after lease negotiations were "unsuccessful" for the bookshop chain, meaning it did not reopen again after closing during lockdown.

It instead reopened in another shop unit just yards away in August last year.

A statement as part of the planning application from Gail's said: “These proposed external works will result in the enhancement of a currently vacant shopfront, providing an overall uplift to the unit and its presence on the prime shopping frontage within Brentwood town centre."

The statement added: “Overall, these proposals seeking alterations to the shopfront and the installation of advertisements, to allow occupation by Gail’s, represent a positive outcome for a currently vacant unit forming part of Brentwood town centre’s prime shopping frontage.”