A HAUNT with a bit of a twist is set to touch down in the centre of Basingstoke.

The Duck and Tipple is the name of a new eatery under construction in Wote Street, above the Subway store.

The idea is the brainchild of friends since school Morgan Copelin and Matt Creeper, who three years ago set up The Tipsy Goose, which offers quirky bars and marquee services for events such as weddings.

Now putting down some roots, the pair want the Duck and Tipple to focus on food to be shared between guests served up with cocktails while by day, coffee and using the venue as a meeting place would be the focus, all put together in a Speakeasy-style ambience with low lighting and even lower music.

Morgan said: “It is not going to be bar but it is predominantly a restaurant. It is not going to have loud music pumping out and it is not going to be a nuisance.

“We’ve been looking for a place for a long time. We toyed with the idea of Andover but we looked at the details of Basingstoke and thought this a great base as there is so much coming to this town and we wanted to be a part of that.

“There is not a great deal like this in town in the evening.

“We want to do food that is going to get people together, it is going to be somewhere between gourmet and café food, and we want to be environmentally-friendly with how we operate.”

The venue is currently a shell with areas chalked in on the floor as a precursor for things to come.

Morgan and Matt are currently in the middle of applying for a supply of alcohol licence for the venue but say the venture is predominantly non-alcohol based, focusing instead on the food offering.

The opening hours proposed are 11am to 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 11am to 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

The proposed opening date for the venue, which aims to serve food and drink using largely local produce, with a capacity of up to 90 people, is in October.

Morgan added: “We want to do specials based on the number of dishes, not time, so there will be say 20 of the dish sold and once its gone, its gone, rather than having loads of food that we may not sell and then it would be thrown away.”

The new venture would employ up to five people.

To find out more, email hello@duckandtipple.co.uk.