A new brewery and visitor attraction have been proposed at a well-known hotel on the banks of the River Ness in the Highland capital.

Jon and Victoria Erasmus have owned the Glen Mhor Hotel and Apartments in Inverness since 2006 and have submitted plans which include a state- of- the- art brewery which would become integral to their tourist operation on Ness Bank.

They have been working since 2012 on a proposal to develop the riverside gap site. Historically brewing had taken place in the nearby Haugh area of the Inverness since the 1700s and they feel the time is right to restore the tradition.

The idea is for a German brewing plant, supplied by market leaders in brewing technology Kaspar Schulz, using local ingredients to produce new Highland beers.

The beer would be for the local and regional market as well as for export. The visitor attraction would include a shop and an art gallery.

Jon Erasmus said: "People will come to the front door and they will look up and see the brewery. From there they can take a tour round and get to see how the brewery works, get a tasting. They get the background of the brewing process and hopefully get an interesting perspective because it is often a rather dry subject for people."

He said they would think long and hard about what to call the brewery and the range of beers.

For the time being it would be called the Inverness Brewery and he expected it would create at least a dozen new jobs while also bringing millions of pounds in tourism revenues to the area.

"It is hoped that with the right support from all the relevant government bodies building can start early in 2015," he said.