A NEW restaurant is set to replace the Lemon Tree in North Oxford.

The Woodstock Road restaurant was closed two years ago and earmarked for demolition.

But owner Clinton Pugh, right, now plans to open a new restaurant on the site this summer.

Mr Pugh, who owns a number of establishments in the city, spent two years trying to redevelop the site for housing but told the Oxford Mail the current economic situation had put those plans on ice.

He said housing was still his long term aim, adding: “Ultimately, I will redevelop it but it is the wrong time, so I might as well trade from it.”

He said the building was costing him £80,000 a year just to be used as an equipment store, and had been vandalised.

Mr Pugh has not yet decided on a name for the venture.