The St. George's Club is taking over the running of its two restaurants after winning a licence from the Liquor Licensing Board this week.

Tillie's and Blackbeards have been partially closed since the end of June after Patrick and Adrian Jones, who had the franchise for the two restaurants, decided not to renew their lease with the club after reportedly suffering heavy losses.

Sally-Ann Woolf, the president and chief executive officer of the timeshare club, told The Royal Gazette `'It's really exciting and it will be rather nice to have control of the restaurants again.

`'We had a minimum charge of $50 imposed on the members (for the restaurant) and the members are very supportive of the restaurant.

`'We are very open to ideas from them and we also want to appeal to locals. As soon as we have all our ducks in a row, we'll be advertising. We will be looking for more live music because it's what this end of the Island needs.''

The Internet web site Bermuda Online reported last month that the Jones' said they had lost a total of $1.2 million and were losing more than $6,000 each week.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Woolf said the St. George's Club is having a good season, with occupancy rates of 99 percent last month.