A CHESHAM bar owner could soon have an unusual attraction to boost trade at his pub a nuclear submarine.

Ken Hulme, of The Spinney, Chesham, is backing plans for a 200ft Soviet sub, which once carried nuclear warheads, to be parked on London's Victoria Embankment at Temple Pier, right next to his riverboat bar.

The 51-year-old and his wife, Hannah, inherited the pier five years ago along with the boat bar El Barc Latino and another vessel.

He believes the former war-machine will boost trade and added: "I think this would be absolutely brilliant provided the sub is in good shape and it's not a rust bucket of course."

The owners of the Foxtrot-class U475 submarine, which weighs 1,950 tonnes, want to moor it alongside the pier as a tourist attraction a far cry from its days in active service when it patrolled high seas with its missiles aimed at the West.

Mr Hulme, who is planning to sell the pier and businesses, added: "The more attractions and stuff there is on the river the better all round.

"It will cost loads of money because the river will have to be dredged but it's a great idea.

"It's funny because it didn't make it over here during the Cold War but it could be about to now."

The so-called hunter-killer sub was built in 1967 at the Sudomekh shipyard in Leningrad and was part of Russia's Baltic submarine fleet.

It carried 22 conventional torpedoes, another two armed with nuclear warheads and a 76-strong crew.

The Soviet giant was disarmed and decommissioned in 1994 and is currently open to the public in Folkestone Harbour, Kent.

But bosses at International Management Consortium, which owns the sub, are confident it could become a major London attraction and have set their sights on winning planning permission from Westminster City Council.

David Price, a spokesman for IMC, said: "We believe the submarine will make a marvellous addition to the capital. The Cold War is a fascinating subject."

Ivor Jones, a spokesman for Westminster City Council, confirmed a planning application had been made and that a period of consultation was under way.