One of Bermuda's former favourite watering holes, MR Onions, has been turned into a state-of-the-art office and home to newly-incorporated re/insurer Canopius (Bermuda) Limited.

MR Onions, which was based at Atlantic House in Par-la-Ville Road, shut its doors for the last time in the summer of 2007 after the pub's managers Phil and Lori Talbot decided not to extend the lease for another two years.

But now what was once a dark English-style pub has been fully converted into a light and spacious office complete with stylish wood furnishings and luxury furniture.

Canopius Bermuda, which runs a managing general agency and a reinsurance company, was set up on the Island by its parent company Canopius Group Ltd., which itself is headquartered in Guernsey.

The company is headed up by chief executive officer Susan Patschak, with a predominantly Bermudian team of five, made up of head of operations Jonathan Farrow, head of the insurance group Stephen Hartwig, office manager Olivia deFrias, insurance analyst Suzette Brooks, and receptionist Kim Crevatin.

The insurance side of the underwriting agency focuses on excess casualty, targeting Fortune 1000 clients and FTSE 250 industries, and medical malpractice, looking at hospitals with a regional focus and good risk management capabilities.

The reinsurance part of the agency covers property catastrophe, with an emphasis on personal lines business in Florida and Puerto Rico. The class three reinsurance company writes a quota share of Canopius' Syndicate 44/44, the 12th largest Lloyd's syndicate, and plans to write some third party business in the future.

Its accounting and back office operations are run by Bermuda-based Horseshoe Management Ltd.

Ms Patschak, who came to the Island six years ago when she was hired as Ace's global chief actuary, by the then CEO, Brian Duperreault, explained that getting involved in the formation of Canopius Bermuda was just a matter of good timing.

"Basically Canopius was looking to expand outside the UK and at the same time I was taking a business plan over to a few syndicates in London to see if any of them were interested in setting up in Bermuda," she said.

"That was back in March 2007. We were incorporated in September 2007 and licensed in December 2007 and moved into the building at the end of May 2008."

Ms Patschak, who is originally from Maryland, just outside of the Washington DC area, US, and spent two years at Ace before moving on to Endurance Specialty to run its property catastrophe worldwide practice, said Canopius Bermuda started out life in the sticks at Pink Beach Club in Tucker's Town, before relocating to its new prime position in the centre of town, where it is today.

"We should have put 'formerly known as MR Onions' on our business cards," she joked.

"There are many times we tell people where we are and they say 'I thought they tore that place down?'"

Canopius Bermuda found out about the available space through its next door neighbours Coldwell Banker Bermuda Realty and had the property gutted, with new fixtures and fittings installed, such as seven offices, two conference rooms and a board room, said Ms Patschak.

"We had to do the fit out and we definitely wanted to have a different look to anywhere else," she said.

"We wanted a colonial/Caribbean theme where it is very relaxing and is a nice place to come to work - which it is with the nice woodworking done by the FineWoodworking group here on the island.

"We are quite pleased with how it worked out - to keep the stairwell was good and we are now actively trying to get Bermudian artists to display in the office as well."

Ms Patschak said it was too good an opportunity to pass up on with the chance to run an operation from its inception to seeing it grow into a fully-fledged business in its own right.

Not that she gets much time to appreciate her office surroundings, with business trips to New York, San Francisco, London and Monte Carlo for everything from conferences to meetings with brokers on the agenda.

Canopius derives its name from Nathaniel Canopius, credited with being the first man to brew coffee in England when he was studying at Oxford University in 1637. Lloyd's opened up as Edward Lloyd's coffee house in Tower Street, London almost 50 years later.

With Canopius also establishing operations in Singapore and Ireland, it looks like there will be many more exciting times ahead for its latest operation in Bermuda.