NEW plans for a pontoon on the River Thames at Folly Bridge are being re-floated by Oxford restaurateur Aziz-Ur Rahman.

Mr Rahman is to launch a new restaurant at Folly Bridge next week, following the demise of the Italian Aquavitae restaurant.

Mr Rahman is the proprietor of the Aziz restaurant in Cowley Road, which won a top prize in the recent staging of the British Curry Awards.

He has announced plans to open a new riverside restaurant, to be named the Pandesia, meaning All Food in Greek.

In addition to traditional Bangladeshi dishes, the restaurant will serve Indian, Thai and Mediterranean food.

But Mr Rahman also revealed his intention to reintroduce controversial plans for a pontoon for diners and drinkers.

The owner of the building, Orde Levinson, fell out with the restaurant's neighbours two years ago when he applied for planning permission for a pontoon moored on the river.

Permission was granted on a temporary basis with conditions, but it was later refused by the council after complaints from neighbours about noise and late-night disturbance.

But Mr Rahman, who opened the Aziz in 1990, said he would be appealing against the decision next month.

He said: "As a new tenant, I hope we will be given the opportunity to overcome some of the problems seen in the past with the previous tenants."

"There should be a compromise with the local residents.

"Maybe instead of midnight we could have an earlier cut-off point, possibly 11pm.

"It would be a wonderful place to sit out and enjoy a glass of wine.

"We recognise that it will be sensible to work with the neighbours. I have a good track record in that respect."

The new restaurant, which will open next Thursday, can accommodate about 60 diners.

The Aquavitae was run by two sisters from Naples, who opened the Italian restaurant about five years ago.

Featuring a startling scarlet colour scheme, it also boasted Britain's first flushing urinal for women.

But in the winter, Mr Levinson said that he applied to the county court for the forfeiture of the lease, on the grounds that clauses of the lease had been breached.