VALDOSTA — A popular Valdosta restaurant will soon reopen.

The Wooden Nickel Pub, closed at its North Valdosta Road location, has been bought by two longtime patrons, Michael Woodruff and Walt Gill. The men have been in negotiations with Carmike Cinemas Inc., the company that owned Wooden Nickel, for three to four weeks.

“I have always wanted to get into the restaurant business,” Woodruff said. “Wooden Nickel was such an institution, such a great place, and the response when it closed was so sad — I thought this would be a great venture.”

Woodruff and Gill bought the franchise, all of the items from the restaurant and the recipes.

Woodruff said they want to keep the Wooden Nickel Pub on the north side of town, as it has been for over 20 years. Not much will change for the restaurant, except for some space expansion and one or two new menu items. Woodruff did not want to change the look, feel or the food of the restaurant.

“We want the integrity of the place to stay,” Woodruff said. “So we kept all of the equipment, all of the booths, all of the lights, the jukebox, and many other items, including the beams from the ceiling, to keep the restaurant the same.”

Woodruff also said that cook Richard Tomlinson, who has been with Wooden Nickel since its beginnings, had also agreed to come on board.

“We have the recipes, and now we have the person who made us come back for more camel riders and mushrooms,” he said. “It’s great he’s decided to come back on board.”

He also said he hoped to see more former employees of Wooden Nickel to return.

Woodruff also said he bought the business because he had been eating lunch there for years.

“My wife and I, since we were dating, have been going there for lunch each week,” he said.

A place has not been bought for Wooden Nickel, although Woodruff said he and Gill were seriously looking. He hopes that once a place has been found, the restaurant could be open as soon as 90 days. If a place cannot be found, Woodruff said he and Gill would build a free-standing restaurant.

Depending on the success of Valdosta’s Wooden Nickel, Woodruff said the franchise could expand. His hope is to possibly expand to Remerton.

“Our main goal, however, is to make sure that the Valdosta Wooden Nickel is up and running way before we think about opening a new restaurant,” he said.

The sale was completed Jan. 28, and Woodruff and Gill closed on the property Monday. The amount of the sale was undisclosed.