JD Wetherspoon is reported to be in advanced talks to buy a development site on Dublin's Camden Street, and if the deal goes through the company is expected to build a hotel there.

The brand is best known for the 926 bars that it owns across the UK and Ireland - it also runs 31 hotels.

The site has been subject to a planning application to build a 143-room hotel, making it the group's biggest. The plot is spread across eight buildings.

Since JD Wetherspoon arrived in Ireland there have been a series of rumours linking the chain with a number of properties in Dublin's city centre.

This deal could see the group's low drinks pricing coming to one of the capital's busiest streets - putting it in direct competition with established licensed premises like Whelan's, The Palace, The Bleeding Horse and Against the Grain.

The group has also purchased a property in Waterford city centre. The pub will combine two adjoining buildings that front onto Arundel Square and Broad Street.

It is probably not a coincidence that this news comes to light as the company opens its second Irish premise at the Forty Foot in Dublin's Dún Laoghaire - due to open tomorrow.

The new pub made the headlines in both the UK and Ireland last week when a dispute over drinks pricing caused a falling out between JD Wetherspoons and Heineken - the chain announced that it would stop stocking the larger in its premises on both sides of the Irish Sea.

JD Wetherspoon has been working with the brewery for over 35 years, and their contract is thought to be worth €76m.

The company has also secured locations in the Dublin suburbs of Swords and Blanchardstown, as well as one in Cork city.

The company intends to open around 30 pubs in Ireland.