Club empire points South

beats:

THE owner of an Oldham nightclub has boosted its portfolio by buying two new venues.

Tokyo Industries, which runs Tokyo Oldham as well as The Factory in Manchester and clubs in Newcastle, Bradford and Huddersfield, now owns South, in Manchester, and Fibbers, in York.

The company bought South, in King Street, from Paul Cons, a former promotions manager at the Hacienda and Factory Records.

South is synonymous with XFM/Inspiral Carpets’ star Clint Boon, who has fronted Saturday nights at the club for nine years.

Oldham-born Aaron Mellor, Tokyo Industries managing director, said: “We’ve worked out a deal that will retain all the best aspects of South but create a sizeable budget to update the look with a new interior and a seriously improved sound system.

“Clint’s a long standing friend. We want to get him more on board with the general running and programming of the venue as a whole.

“It’s a top club with a great following. We want it to become an incubator venue for smaller more boutique music nights, as well as retaining the core weekend offer South is famed for.”