A Melbourne publican has been jailed for at least eight years over a side business trafficking substantial quantities of drugs.

Chris Lytros, 50, was busted at the Railway Hotel at Brunswick, where he was the licensee, after selling ice and cocaine to an undercover police officer on eight separate occasions between November 2015 and April 2016.

The Railway Hotel in Brunswick. Credit:Jason South

The undercover officer handed over $67,800 to Lytros for the purchases.

Lytras pleaded guilty in the County Court to one charge of trafficking a commercial quantity of ice and one each of trafficking cocaine and MDMA.