The former 7Bone Burger restaurant in St Marys Butts has been vacant since the company moved to Phantom Brewing at the Meadow Road industrial estate in October 2023.
Now, work is taking place to turn it into the Dolphin’s Caribbean restaurant.
The company was founded by chef Randolph Bancroft who was born in Barbados and has lived in Reading for decades.
The Dolphin’s Caribbean Cuisine food business is based at The Atrium Health Club in Scours Lane, Tilehurst. Mr Bancroft also ran a cafe in Great Knollys Street, a handy location for Reading Buses drivers.
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The company recently won permission to sell alcohol, host live music and dance performances, and play recorded music until midnight each night at the former 7Bone restaurant.
The team at Dolphin’s Caribbean is busy at work getting the restaurant ready for launch, and is also on the lookout for staff.
Yvette Young, a representative for the company, explained: “Work is going on, we are planning to open as soon as possible, we’re looking forward to opening…
“We don’t have an exact date, we’re looking for staff to apply to work for us.
“The number and email will be there. Mr Bancroft is very happy and is looking forward to serving the community.
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“We’re currently in the process of doing the branding; people have come back with loads of designs. It’ll nice just to be simple so people can recognise us.
“We’ll be open until midnight, last orders will be around 11.30pm we’re quite happy with that; if we need to extend, we’ll do an extension.”
Yvette was keen to stress Dolphin’s heritage of serving bus drivers at its cafe in Great Knollys Street, with St Marys Butts being a key location with seven bus stops.
She said: “We’re serving breakfast for bus drivers, so operationally, it’ll be a long day. We’ve grown.”
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Dishes diners can expect include chicken and goat curry, rice and peas, Escovitch fish, wings and more.
The restaurant stretches across two floors, with the ground floor serving as the main dining area, and the basement set to host a bar, sports viewing parties and music.
Mr Bancroft’s application for activities between 6am and midnight each day was granted by Reading Borough Council’s licensing department.
No one objected to the application in a statutory consultation that ended on Wednesday, February 19.
In full, the business has won permission to host live music, play recorded music , host performance of dance, performances of anything related to live recorded music and dance, offer late-night refreshments and sell alcohol.