Ambitious proposals are being finalised to turn a grade II listed building into a seven-storey, 120-room Beatles shrine, complete with themed bedrooms.

As well as staying in a Yellow Submarine, visitors will be able to relax in a Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds suite, which planners want to put on the roof of the building. It overlooks the Cavern Quarter, where John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison started out playing concerts at lunchtime to eager fans.

The company behind the plans is Cavern City Tours, which has helped build the growing Beatlemania industry in the city. "To us, it is the missing link in the leisure business we have built up in the city," said Cavern City's Steve McGriskin.

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"We already own the Cavern Club and Cavern pub, we run the Magical Mystery Tours and we organise the annual Beatles festival. The hotel was the next natural progression."

US artist Shannon McDonald, regarded as one of the world's foremost Beatles artists, has already finished a huge John Lennon mural which will go in one of the bedrooms. She will complete murals to fit in with the themes of all the hotels and suites.

The company is now hoping to attract outside investors for the �5m project, which involves converting a run-down office block, Central Buildings, into the showpiece attraction.

The block is next to the new Cavern Club, itself next to the site of the original venue.

Mr McGriskin said the hotel would help create around 100 full and part-time jobs when it is finished.

Other Beatles attractions in the city include Sir Paul McCartney's childhood home, recently opened to the public by the National Trust.