BAR owner/restaurateur Rick Olson has taken over the management of D'Mikado at Pier Six.

A huge Happy Hour, which kicks off this evening and is to continue every Friday, is part of the entrepreneur's plan to breathe some life into the premises' "low-key" atmosphere.

"We're going to try and make it a more upmarket, trendy place," he said. "It's certainly been very low-key. It has its cult following, but many people don't know it exists.

"Eventually, we want to turn it into a high-energy, trendy place, but at the moment, what we know we can implement right off the bat, is a successful Happy Hour."

D'Mikado, which fills 6,000 square feet, sits at the lower level of Number Six Shed. The building is leased from the Corporation of Hamilton by Inner Harbour Limited of which local businessman Nelson Hunt is president.

The property has seen limited success since Mr. Hunt first opened it as a bar and restaurant in the spring of 1996.

In 1998, he handed management over to Elbow Beach which refurbished the interior and reopened under the name of the Surf Club. A year later, it was taken over by Paget Partners Limited, reopening as a steak house and sushi bar, and featuring a micro-brewery run by now-defunct Bermuda Triangle Brewing Company.

Even with star entertainer Jimmy Keys, a loss of revenue forced the group to close in October 1999, only six months after opening.

Mr. Hunt entered into a new three-year contract with the Corporation and in the spring of 2,000 reopened the premises ? briefly ? as the original Pier Six. In July of that year, however, the business emerged as D'Mikado at Pier Six, a Japanese restaurant specialising in sushi and teppanyaki.

Operator of The Beach ? a bar billed as the 'shame of Front Street' and located across the street from D'Mikado ? Mr. Olson is to act as a management consultant, taking responsibility for its food and beverage operations.

"I have a good, personal relationship with the owner Nelson Hunt," he explained. "He's very busy doing too many other things in Bermuda ? he has his warehouse, he has his sanitation business ? he doesn't have time to make (D'Mikado) work."

With one of Bermuda's few remaining nightclubs, The Deep at Elbow Beach, destroyed during Hurricane Fabian and outdoor venues less attractive with the end of summer, Bermuda neededhe kind of venue he intended to create, Mr. Olson said.

"The Deep has closed for an extended period of time and the (outdoor venues) are winding down. People need somewhere else to go. It's time to give the park back to the winos. I think the big draw we have here is that it overlooks the harbour, the views are stunning and so we'll be setting up on top of the roof, people can party on the dock, they can party inside the lounge."

There were no immediate plans to change the facility's decor or menu at present, he added. In the future, however, "I'd like to create a sophisticated place for people similar to the kinds of trendy bars which you find in New York ? Asia de Cuba, for example.

"A place for office workers, people in their 30s and 40s, where they can have a good time. They can take their girlfriend, take their wife and relax with a nice cocktail, a premium glass of wine and enjoy a bit of sushi with comfortable seating and nice music playing in the background.

"That's my ultimate dream.

"Some of the nicest restaurants in Bermuda have high quality food, but they don't change their menus frequently; they're not what I'd consider a trendy dining experience. You look at Harbour Front, Port O' Call ? they serve good food.

"But if you're a businessman and you're eating out two or three times a week, eventually, you run out of things to order on the menu. My dad has a tuna sandwich for lunch every day. I can't do that. But at the moment we're concerned with getting a kicking Happy Hour going.

"Hopefully, it will trickle down to the rest of the restaurant and hopefully, will not compete against The Beach."

The move marks the second major venture undertaken by Mr. Olson this year. In May he and co-owner Heather Burrows opened the Salt Rock Grill at Loyalty Inn in Somerset Village. Like D'Mikado, the restaurant had experienced limited success under a string of owners.

While admitting that each presented its own set of problems, the businessman said he wasn't daunted by either challenge. "Mr. Hunt has owned the actual lease to Pier Six since day one, and it's been under various different forms of management with limited success but for different reasons. I guess we're going to make a new attempt to reinvent the wheel.

"Somerset in general is a problem. It's a difficult place to make money and the Somerset Village area has been having problems since Dockyard was developed. (Salt Rock Grill) is not a big success but things have improved since we've taken over.

"Somerset is a tough place to do business period just as St. George's is ? especially now that the cruise ships aren't coming in.

"(One of the attractive things about buying into places) like D'Mikado and Salt Rock is that they don't need a lot of capital investment. Today, it's almost impossible to start from the ground up. In this day and age, it's too expensive."