COUNCIL chiefs are on the verge of sealing a deal to create 300 jobs in the city in a new centre dedicated to creative arts and media businesses.

They hope the development could produce Southampton’s own Google or Netflix.

If the plans go ahead, the 2,500 sq m development will sit above the Frog and Parrot pub in northern Above Bar and next door in an empty shop unit.

Council leader Simon Letts believes the development, will be a key part of the city’s emerging cultural quarter and stop the “brain drain” of graduates from the city’s universities to other parts of the country and could unearth the country’s next business success story.

The Daily Echo understands Oxford Innovation will market the site to potential businesses and manage it, while Enterprise House Developments will be the developer in charge of revolutionising the empty units at 164-176 Above Bar.

The units at the front of the site would be used by creative industries such as graphics firms, while the space at the rear would be turned into flats where those working in the building could live.

The offices above the Frog and Parrot pub, formerly the Old Fat Cat, have been empty since the Tyrrell and Green department store was demolished in 2010.

Council chiefs hope the deal will bring in much-needed income for the authority, while also fitting into the 25-year city centre masterplan to deliver £3billion of investment and more than 24,000 jobs.

If the deal goes ahead, it will form part of the city’s cultural quarter and sit next to the arts complex which will contain an art gallery, two theatres, a dance studio, a media and film facility and educational spaces, as well as bars, restaurants and 38 flats.

Cllr Letts said: “The concept is that somebody wanting to start a graphics company, for example, will rent a flat and can walk to work in the same building.

"We’re really delighted because it is the final brick in the cultural quarter, and you will have opportunities for people to come and start a new business in the cultural quarter. It’s harnessing the talent that comes out of the city’s universities and keeping them in the city.

“We might get a Google or Netflix, a company that starts with a really good idea and a small business environment and grows into a big success story.”

If contract negotiations between the various firms hoping to be part of the scheme are concluded successfully over the next month, a planning application will then be put forward for the council to consider.