HARD Rock Café's international vice-president Mike Kneidinger says it is considering opening a new hotel in Manchester.

Mark Kneidinger told the M.E.N. that Manchester is among the world's `leading international cities' which the company is assessing as a possible location.

In addition to 130 restaurants around the world, Hard Rock has nine hotels - in America, Indonesia and Thailand - with another five in development.

Mr Kneidinger said: "I would say that there are around 75 to 100 leading international cities in the world which we've identified as possible locations for our hotels. London is obviously another city where we are seriously investigating possibilities."

He added that Hard Rock had increased turnover over the past year, and the Manchester restaurant at The Printworks - the biggest of the four in Britain - continued to perform `exceptionally well' following a £200,000 refurbishment.

The number of Hard Rock restaurants is set to double, with openings in Venice and Prague due before Christmas.