The Pickled Onion restaurant is to close for at least two months to undergo a ?night-and-day? transformation, say its owners Island Restaurant Group Ltd (IRG).

The New Year?s Eve celebrations will mark the end of the current interior design of the popular Front Street eatery and bar, as the Pickled Onion will close from January 1 and re-open some time in March.

IRG president Phil Barnett promised that customers who return in the spring will be scarcely able to recognise the place. ?It will be exceptionally different ? a night-and-day change,? he said.

?Nothing is being kept from the existing Pickled Onion. The premise of the Pickled Onion is to be a contemporary restaurant and we want to keep it contemporary. We want to make sure that we give our customers fantastic physical plant.

?I don?t want to give too much away, because I want people to be able to come and see it for themselves, but it will certainly not be like anything currently in Bermuda. This will be a restaurant that would not look out of place in any other major cosmopolitan city, like new York, London or Las Vegas.

?Bermuda has evolved and, considering we are a centre of international business, it?s important that we, as a restaurant group, give those business people a fitting place to go.?

All of the 40 regular staff are being kept on and when the revamped restaurant reopens, more will be recruited. Some staff were taking the chance to take an extended holiday, Mr. Barnett said. ?We are seeking new employees and I would encourage any interested Bermudians to contact me,? he added.

IRG first launched the revamped Pickled Onion in 1997 and Mr. Barnett said the group had been delighted and surprised by the scale of its success.

?When we first reopened the place, we had no idea how busy we would be,? Mr. Barnett said. ?So one of changes we will make will be to extend the bar. The new bar will stretch from one wall right to the entrance area. The structure of the building will not change, but we will reconfigure the tables.?

The stripping of the restaurant will start next Tuesday and the owners are keen to get the premises open in time for the start of the tourist season in mid-March.

?Certainly our goal is to be up and running by April 1,? Mr. Barnett said. ?We would like to invite the Minister of Finance (Paula Cox) to cut the ribbon, because the policies on duty relief have helped us to carry out this project. Credit where credit?s due.?

Mr. Barnett is looking for a home for the Pickled Onion?s refrigerators, which will go with all the other plant. ?We want the fridges to go to local sports club, provided they can show they have a strong youth programme,? he said.

l Anyone representing such a club, or anyone interested in working for the Pickled Onion, should call Mr. Barnett on 295-3648.