Dunedin man Sean McCarrigan has taken on the lease of the King Edward St hotel and last month applied for an on-licence from the Dunedin City Council.
There have been no objections to the licence from the public or the three reporting agencies, police, Southern District Health Board and the council.
But the licence still needs to be approved by the Dunedin licensing committee.
The agencies have said if the licence is approved they will be watching the bar very closely, Mr McCarrigan said.
''To be honest, all the parties have been really helpful.
''Obviously with what's gone on before they'll keep a close on us, but me and my partner want to run a tight ship,'' he said.
If the licence application was successful, he hoped to open the bar early next month.
''I guess me and my partner saw this as an opportunity for us; but also the bar has a lot of history and it's something we really want to continue.''
The South Dunedin bar closed at the end of last month after former publican Stephen Clark's manager's licence and the bar's on-licence were cancelled by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (Arla).
Police applied to Arla to have the licences cancelled after a string of incidents during Mr Clark's running of the bar.
