A fashion entrepreneur is hoping to rival Harvey Nichols with his latest venture in the North-East.

Steve Cochrane, the man behind Psyche, is planning to open a four-storey upmarket department store - complete with a champagne and oyster bar - in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough.

The £2.5m store - in the former Uptons building - will create 40 new jobs and will feature a men's tailoring department, designer wear for men and women, a nail bar, a bridal and ball gown boutique, a tanning shop and cosmetic dentistry service.

Mr Cochrane says he is also in talks with celebrity hairdresser Nicky Clarke about opening his first salon outside of London in the store.

The top floor of the premises is likely to be a restaurant and roof garden, in partnership with Eugene McCoy, one of the proprietors of the feted Cleveland Tontine, by the A19 near Northallerton.

"There's nothing in the North-East like this," said Mr Cochrane. "Leeds has got Harvey Nics but this is going to be better than that. Harvey Nics has 22,000sq ft and this has 35,000sq ft.

"Psyche has been going for 20 years and we felt we needed to really expand what we are doing. We feel the time is right to really go for it. We think people will come from all over the region to the store."

The town's two Psyche branches will close and move to the new store, which is due to open in February or March next year.

Mr Cochrane also owns half of Europe's largest online shoe store - shoe-shop.com - which stocks 10,000 footwear lines.