A WELL-LOVED Mexican restaurant and cocktail bar has recently changed hands and is preparing to reopen.

Dutch Uncle in Carlisle was run by Sam Norman for nine years before it was taken over by former Carlisle United footballer Jaic Miller.

Jaic, 21, said he hopes the business, which he has renamed ‘Medusa’, can ‘spice up’ the city as it looks to open on May 20.

“I’m absolutely buzzing to get going,” said Jaic.

“We’re just getting everything sorted at the moment, but the excitement is there and it can’t come quick enough.”

It has been a journey of twists and turns for Jaic, who decided to go into business during the Covid-19 pandemic after an early retirement from his footballing career.

Jaic played at Carlisle United from the under 11s until he was 18-years-old, but he decided not to renew his contract at the club after a serious knee injury.

He said: “I went through the rehab, got back playing again, and it was just recently this year that I did it again.

“I was perusing carrying on with the football before the pandemic and then over lockdown I learnt some new skills and I was just motivated to change my whole mindset in general.

“I’ve been growing my ambition elsewhere.”

Jaic, who is also involved in e-commerce and his own charity organisation, called JM Fundraising, said his focus has been the same with all his ventures.

He added: “It’s been an awful year for everybody.

“With the charity work, I was just trying to put smiles back on peoples’ faces and then when the opportunity came to open the restaurant, it was also to put smiles on peoples’ faces.

“They’re two separate things, but the aim is the same and that’s to make people happy.”

The cocktail bar and restaurant hopes to treat people to modern dishes with a ‘Mexican twist’ as well as traditional Mexican food.

In terms of his vision for Medusa, Jaic said: “I’ve taken an interest in hospitality over the last couple of years, and I’ve experimented in different places around the world and the UK and it’ll be a mix of everything

“We’ll experiment with a couple of ideas that are maybe more popular down south, so we’re trying to spice up Carlisle and bring in more modern concepts to bring it up with the times.

“Every drink from a Coke to an Espresso Martini is going to have its own twist.

“It’ll be something new.”