A COFFEE bar in York is set to become a star of the small screen in an effort to boost army recruits.

British filming company Academy Films chose city centre hotel Ramada Encore in Micklegate as the location for an advert for the Territorial Army.

Crews swooped in on the hotel's coffee bar last week to film the 30-second advertisement.

Two of the hotel's staff starred as extras in the commercial, which shows two men chatting up two women in the coffee bar before flashing to a scene of the women on a territorial army exercise.

Room attendant Laura Walton and guest services associate Matt Protheroe-Hill were filmed working at the coffee bar and they are now hoping they make it into the final cut.

General Manager Dale Needham said: "We are dying to see it. It was very exciting for everyone.

"It has got to be good for York that they are using the city as a location."

He said the hotel would agree to host a film crew again even though they had to close the coffee bar for the day and repaint the cafe's walls after the crew painted over them with cinnamon paint.

"The finished product won't look anything like our coffee bar. It was a bit of an inconvenience, but it was just for that day and we didn't have any negative reactions."

The film crew arrived at the hotel also filmed scenes at Strensall Barracks showing two girls in full combat gear carrying stretchers to and from an army helicopter.

Updated: 11:10 Friday, December 19, 2003