The Bucksin pub converting to Chinese restaurant (From Basingstoke Gazette)

The Bucksin pub converting to Chinese restaurant

4:40pm Sunday 28th October 2012 in Local By Adam Richards

A NEW chapter is set to begin for a former problem pub in a Basingstoke suburb.

The Buckskin is currently being converted into a Chinese restaurant, and new owner Candy Gui, 33, from Brighton, said the restaurant should open by the middle of December.

She will run the premises in Blackdown Close, in Buckskin, alongside business partners Yan Bai, 33, and Xuan Bin Dong, 37, after taking over the lease from former pub landlord Krishan Tyagi last month.

Builders are currently fitting a new kitchen, store room, and a 10-table capacity restaurant.

“We are very excited about this,” said Yan. “It will be good for the locals here. We are starting this from the ground up and we are confident that we will make a good business.”

Candy and Yan have run a Chinese restaurant in Brighton for the past three years, and said they are confident they can turn The Buckskin into a vibrant community hub.

“We have done our research and there is a need for a restaurant around here,” added Yan. “People have said to us that they want a Chinese restaurant nearby.”

As previously reported in The Gazette, The Buckskin came under heavy criticism last year from the police who said the pub’s management had failed to tackle booze-related violence. Yan said he was aware of the pub’s chequered history and added that he hoped the new restaurant would help clean up the venue’s image.

“When it was a pub, there were alcohol-related problems,” he said. “Now people will be coming here for food, and not alcohol, which I think will help.”

Candy added that the restaurant will open up with four staff, and said if business proves successful, they would aim to eventually double the number of tables.