Since acquiring the property in February, Hasan and Nicole Rifat have begun restoration work with a view to opening for business as early as November.

Mr Rifat said the fact the business had survived for over 150 years had been an amazing feat.

“We want to keep the name, the place has been open since 1861 so we don’t want to change that,” he said.

“What we want to do is create a destination for people, from making great coffee, to really nice food.

“We want to have local produce, from wines to olive oils, to whatever else we can find locally and ultimately we want to try and open up a nursery as well out the back.”

As a history buff, Mr Rifat said he had acquainted himself with the local folklore surrounding the historic venue.

“Legend has it that it used to be the Black Stump originally and there used to be a shepherd that worked for the owner of all the properties around here and his name was Jack and they named it after him,” he said.

“That is the legend according to the locals, so he must have been a happy shepherd.”

Armed with that historical background the Rifats are pulling out all stops to try and keep the building authentic.

“We’ve got an interior designer working on it all with a brand developer as well and what they’re doing is they’re looking into everything about the history and trying to acquire things that relate to the area,” he said.

“What we want to also do is re-expose some of the old brick and stone walls in the building that were hidden behind plaster and bring out the good old days but with modern facilities.”

Mr Rifat said he hoped the refreshed Happy Jacks would fill a gap in the market south of Bendigo.

“When I first started driving to Melbourne five years ago there used be a handful of other people in the morning, now when you drive down the Calder there’s tons of people driving down to Melbourne every day and the sad part is there’s nothing on this side of Bendigo unless you go into Kangaroo Flat,” he said.

“It also serves for the locals who have nothing, at the moment if you want bread or milk or orange juice you’re going to have to drive to Lansell Square which is seven-and-a-half, eight kilometres away.”

One passage of history Mr Rifat is hoping not to revisit is detailed in a Bendigo Advertiser article from the early 1860s which tells of the inquest into the murder of a previous landlord.

“Hopefully I don’t get murdered,” he said.