The Coyote has left The Strand, and in its place is a bistro bar and restaurant that owners Riki and Becs Walls believe will better match changing dining and drinking tastes.

The former Coyote Bar undergoing renovation.

'Cheap drinks is not the way of the future,” says Riki.

'Everybody knows it's got to be more food oriented.”

Sometime mid-December the Coyote original bar space will reopen with a dividing wall down the centre – creating a long narrow dining area.

The bar will be backed up against the dividing wall. The bistro will have its own bi-fold entrance to the outdoor area.

Riki, who was previously involved with the Papamoa Tavern, was a business partner in the Coyote Bar.

'It was my business partner's originally,” says Riki.

'It was just time for a change. He wanted to go on and do other things, and I wanted a bar on my own. I bought out the old company and now I'm solo owner.”

The look of the new bar will be drawn from research Riki has done in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne this year as well as Wellington and Auckland.

It is going to be a clean, crisp look, with a stone bar. It will not have a theme.

'Why do you have to have theme bars? It doesn't have to be southern, or French or English.”

The new bistro will serve Lion Nathan beers. Riki says it will be the second bar besides the Crown and Badger to serve Lion Nathan beers only.

The Strand bars that exclusively serve Lion Nathan Product:

De Bier Haus, Naked Grape, Crown & Badger, Hot on the Rocks,

Lonestar, Play, Illumaniti.

The Strand bars that exclusively serve DB Product: Horny Bull, Grumpy Mole, Cornerstone, Crazy Jacks.