A POPULAR Italian eaterie that was tipped to make way for a housing development will instead reopen as an Indian restaurant.

Nico's Ristorante Italiano, Whalley Road, Langho, was sold to a private buyer at auction in September after owner Nico Ricioppo decided to start his own estate agency selling Italian property.

The site had been highlighted by auctioneers Pugh and Company for its potential for a residential development and Ribble Valley Council had acknowledged a need for housing in the Langho and Billington area.

But new joint owner Shahid Ali, 35, who is leasing the building from the new owners, is turning it into an Indian restaurant called Sylhet.

Mr Ali, who also runs the Blue Diamond Indian Restaurant, in Whalley New Road, Blackburn, said: "The reason we decided to take this place on was because it is in Langho and we feel it is a great place for a restaurant.

"This building has been a restaurant for the last 15 years and was a pub before that so we think we will do well.

"It will be a very modern and stylish place and we think we will be offering something that others are not." Mr Ricioppo decided to sell the restaurant after trade became "lethargic."

For 14 years Nico's had been a popular village restaurant and was well known in the Ribble Valley for playing host to a number of Blackburn Rovers players and soap' stars.

And Mr Ali hopes Sylhet will also be able attract celebrity and football star clientele. He added: "We are hoping to get the same here, especially as it is just around the corner from Rovers' training ground."

The new restaurant is named after a district of Bangladesh, and Mr Ali hopes Bangladeshi influences will offer something different to other Indian restaurants.

The restaurant, currently undergoing a re-fit costing tens-of-thousands of pounds, will seat 140 with a waiting area for a further 50 people.

It will also have full disabled access.