FAST food chain Taco Bell has been granted planning permission to open in Bournemouth.

The US giant is still awaiting the outcome of its licensing application, but now has change of use permission for the premises at 146-148 Old Christchurch Road.

According to a report by council officers, the firm's initial proposal to serve takeaway food until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays had initially fallen afoul of Dorset Police.

"Horseshoe Common is an anti-social hotspot during the late evening/early morning and we have a policy to prevent cumulative impact of uses that could add to incidents of anti-social behaviour," the report by planning officer Steve Davies states.

"Following discussion with the applicant the hours of use have been modified to close at midnight and on that basis the police have withdrawn their objection and I have no further concerns in this respect."

A bid by neighbouring Istanbul takeaway, now Pyramids and under new ownership, to serve food until 5.30am was rejected last year for similar reasons.

The licensing bid is to operate the restaurant supplying alcohol from 10.30am to 2.30am on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and until 11.30pm the rest of the week.

The unit was the site of the town's first ever Sainsbury's supermarket, the 100th J Sainsbury in the country, which ran from 1907 until 1965.