The owners of an Oxford bar hope its appearance in a reality TV show will put it on the map.

Sahara, in Blue Boar Street, in the city centre, was given a new look for its role in the BBC programme The Restaurant.

The TV show sees celebrity chef Raymond Blanc pit eight couples against each other to win the chance to run a restaurant backed by the restaurateur, who runs Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, in Great Milton.

Sahara was among the venues handed over to the couples, who each had to prove their mettle by creating menus, attracting customers and taking care of finances.

But the couple running the 60-cover restaurant failed to impress Mr Blanc, after diners walked out because of poor service, and the pair were sent packing from the series, which will be broadcast in September.

Matt Shrimpton, co-owner of Sahara, said: "We hope the programme will help raise the profile of the bar - we hope it puts us on the map in Oxford.

"I will watch it with a mixture of fear and trepidation, because the couple running the bar had a hard time - it didn't go particularly smoothly for them."

Mr Shrimpton said he was approached by the BBC to hand over the premises for four to nine weeks for the show. Sahara was paid a fee by the BBC but the owners will not disclose how much.

The Ben Jonson pub, in Northampton Road, Weston-on-the-Green, also reopened on Friday after the couple who took it over were eliminated from the show.

Sahara was renamed the Blue Goose for the programme, given a new look inside and out, and new menus.

Mr Shrimpton said: "One aspect was they completely redecorated the interior of the building.

"They whitewashed pretty much the entire place."

A chef and a waitress employed by Sahara will also feature on the show when it is broadcast.

Mr Shrimpton's business partner Ciaran McErlean said: "It should make quite interesting viewing, to see how someone who doesn't know about running a restaurant ran it. Working for a couple like that is very different for working for me."

The bar reopened two weeks ago but Mr McErlean said: "It has been a slow start, because people don't know we're back up and running.

Mr Shrimpton added: "Our greatest problem at the moment is lack of awareness. We're sort of down an alley - Blue Boar Street isn't a major thoroughfare.

"Despite being 100ft from the High Street, most people don't know we're here.