AN empty restaurant in George Street could be open again by Christmas after Oxford City Council agreed to grant a new lease.

The former Brasserie Gerard unit has been empty since the company behind the restaurant ceased trading in December.

But now a new tenant, which the city council has not identified, has approached the council with a view to leasing the site after is was put on the market .

City council chief executive Peter Sloman, pictured left, has already made the decision to go ahead with the lease and this will now go before city councillors.

According to a report, which will be discussed at the council’s executive board meeting on Wednesday the new tenant “will only proceed with the transaction if it completes very imminently, to allow fitting out to be completed in time for the Christmas trade”.

The city council has leased the property on a 20-year lease from March 1996 with a rent of £115,000 per annum.