AN AMERICAN bar and restaurant is set to open a new site in Wimborne next month.

The Dancing Moose, currently based in Ashley Cross, Poole, is opening in the former Vintage Rooms in the High Street.

An application to vary the premises licence has been submitted to East Dorset District Council so the venue can stay open until midnight on Sundays to Thursdays and 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Work is currently taking place at the new site in preparation for opening on the weekend of August 5 and 6.

Steve Madden, operations manager, said the Dancing Moose brand was “always looking to expand”.

“It’s a good social space and a great meet-up place – per square metre, it’s the Mike Tyson of bars.

“The first Dancing Moose opened three years ago now, and we’ve been trying to find a similar market town atmosphere to Ashley Cross for the next site. We were also looking at Southbourne and Christchurch.”

The new opening comes a year after the death of owner James Bronson. The popular figure was director of the Relaxed Pub Company, which includes The Dancing Moose in Poole and The Dancing Jug in Bournemouth.

The Duck in Westbourne, formerly The Dancing Duck, is owned by his former business partner, Adrian Forte.

Mr Bronson's nephew, Charles, has developed the menu at the Dancing Moose in Wimborne.

“He understands our style of food – American fusion,” Steve said.

“We’re trying not to carbon copy everything we do, so Wimborne will be different to Ashley Cross. We’ll take what we know and bring it to Wimborne and evolve from there.

“We’re slightly extending the hours during the week and at the weekend – The Vintage Rooms was open until 11pm in the week and midnight on Saturdays, but we want that freedom. There’s a lot of young people enjoying nights out in Wimborne as not everyone wants to go to Bournemouth town centre.

“When we posted about our new venue on Facebook, it was nice to see people sharing the post with their friends.”

Work is now underway to transform the new site into a stripped back, “retro” venue.

“We’ve ripped out the bar, and we’re just starting to put in the decorations - there’s not too much to it,” Steve added.