Construction of The Lawrenson Group's new restaurant will start with the demolition of the old garage station located at the site.

A derelict gas station is being bowled over to make way for a multi-million dollar bar and restaurant.

Demolition of the dilapidated building the on the corner of Heaphy Tce and O'Neill St in Hamilton will begin on Monday The site has been owned by The Lawrenson Group for the past three years.

An 800 square metre, two storey bar aimed at cashing in on Claudelands Arena gig-goers will rise in its place and chief executive John Lawrenson could not be happier to see the garage go.

SUPPLIED The 800 square metre bar will feature a large dining area and upstairs function room. The Lawrenson Group chief executive John Lawrenson said it would be "very visible".

"I'm going to be down here filming the demolition because it's been a long time and I want to see the bloody thing get knocked over. It's turned into a bit of an eyesore and it even got to the point where mayor has been ringing us saying 'when are you guys going to start work?'"

Lawrenson estimated the project would cost around $4.5 million, between The Lawrenson Group and Downey Construction.

"It will be our biggest kitchen, our biggest dining space. We expect this to be our highest turnover and largest venue. At the moment it would be The Bank or Bar 101 Auckland that would have that title but we expect this to take the top spot."

The establishment would be able to fit 300 seated guests or 500 standing./

The venue will also consist of an upstairs function room with a capacity to fit 50 people, a 185sq garden bar with a retractable canopy and a 38-vehicle car park.

"It will be a big landmark site. At 800 square metres, it will hold a lot of people.

"It's a big fitout. We're expecting to come close to probably one and a half million and getting finance for that kind of thing has been a challenge but that finance has been approved. We're all go."

SUPPLIED It will also house a large garden bar, with one half of area under a glass roof while the other will have a retractable canape.

Lawrenson believed it would bring in "immense business."

"You think netball, basketball, boxing, graduations, musicians, comedians, conferences, it's all in there. I know it's much maligned but geez, it [Claudelands Arena] brings in a lot of business to Hamilton. We see a massive amount of business even in the south end off the back of what goes on there but having this right here to service them I think is going to huge."

Lawrenson said he was in talks with event centre about how they could work together but was in no way looking to detract from Montana Catering, who have a catering contract there.

SUPPLIED The garden bar would be one of the biggest within The Lawrenson Group.

Negotiations were still underway with Lion Brewery and DB Brewery and name of the restaurant and bar would depend on the outcome of that.

"If we go with a DB then it will be what is called a New Zealand Pub Company Bar. We've only got a few of them nationwide but they are their best performing venues.

"We were looking for something that is, I guess, appealing to the large amount of residential that's around here. You've got all these River Rd guys down here, just one block down the whole way along plus the Hamilton Boys' [High School] catchment along through here.

"Obviously we want the event crowd, which is big part of what we're doing. It's why this site is very big, there will be a lot of elements to the venue that is fast - really big kitchen going into it and a big function space into it upstairs. So the theme is quite hard to describe until I've signed that agreement."

New Zealand Pub Company Bar's often styled their name on historical oddities from the area and there were a number of options under consideration but Lawrenson promised it would be a "little bit quirky".

"There's a couple of things we are looking at theme wise. Obviously the showgrounds have been here for a hundred years. There was the race track there for a long time so we were looking at maybe some stuff to do with that."

Another option included incorporating the fact that the site had been home to an old gas station for a number of years.

Hamilton's hospitality industry tended be quite literal with when it comes to naming their establishment, he said.

"The Bank is the called The Bank because it's in an old bank. Shenanigans is Shenanigans because its an Irish bar where you go to get up to Shenanigans. I mean even if you look at Good Neighbour, it's like a neighbourhood bar and then Little George is like a little version. Rodeo Rodeo is a cowboy themed bar and House just looked like a house.

"We're probably going to have fun with the name and I think a few people at first will be like, 'shit, what's that about?'

Lawrenson expected it to be open by April next year and said the bar would closed by 11pm once operational.