NEW owners are set to open a food business in place of a closed Chinese restaurant.

Signs have gone up on the outside of the site of the Jade Fountain in Barrow's Cavendish Street, with a new tenant due to take over the premises.

The restaurant closed its doors to customers in September last year, with owners Johnny and Yvonne Lau blaming the closure on"circumstances beyond our control".

The site has been empty for eight months. Now, with Ross's Estate Agents having agreed to let out the space, rumours have swirled that a new a restaurant will open up in place of the once popular restaurant.

A nearby business owner claimed that a "multi-cultural buffet" similar in style to the Kapadokya Turkish restaurant at the end of Dalton Road.

The owners of the Jade Fountain first set up in Furness in 1986 when they opened a restaurant in Ulverston. The Barrow restaurant at the end of Cavendish Street opened in 2005

It was well-loved in the town until it closed 13 years later, with owners saying it a "pleasure" to serve Barrow and that they would "miss" the customers who had passed through the doors.

Hindpool Councillor Dave Pidduck said: "New businesses are to be welcomed. "My only concern is that Cavendish Street is become too much of food center.

"It would be good if there were restaurants more spread out in the town centre."

The Mail attempted to contact the estate agent letting out the restaurant space for more details but received no response.