A BUBBLE tea shop is set to open a store in the city centre according to new plans.

The new CUPP Bubble Tea store would open in Worcester High Street in a unit left empty by bakery Greggs.

An application has been submitted to Worcester City Council asking for permission to install signs and CUPP’s branding on the front of the shop.

Cupp said it offers a wide range of hot and iced milk and fruit tea drinks made using real fruit, organic milk, loose leaf tea and homemade syrups.

Bubble tea is a Taiwanese drink which first appeared in the 1980s and is made by blending tea with milk, fruit and fruit juices, then adding tapioca pearls and shaking vigorously.

Variations on the classic recipe would also be available including vanilla, coconut, peach and mango milk teas and grapefruit and strawberry fruit teas.

The traditional chewy tapioca balls can also be swapped for mango, passionfruit, kiwi, peach and blueberry popping bubbles.

CUPP launched in 2012 in Bristol and eventually expanded to London last year with stores now open across the country including Manchester, Cardiff, Slough, Leeds, Reading and Manchester.

It would be the second shop to open on the city’s High Street in recent months following the arrival of the UK’s biggest bubble tea chain Mooboo which will be opening in the space left empty following the closure of No1 Currency Exchange.

Bakery chain Greggs moved into a larger shop previously occupied by Pret A Manger at the end of last year making the short jump from its long-standing High Street home two doors away.

Pret A Manger announced it would be permanently shutting its High Street store in 2020 as part of more than 30 closures across the country.

The sandwich and coffee chain blamed the closure on the Covid lockdown hitting trade which resulted in sales plummeting by more than three quarters.

Worcester’s first Pret A Manager opened on the corner of St Swithin's Street and Worcester High Street in 2017 in the building formerly occupied by Santander bank.