We are being victimised — Tokyo club boss

THE area manager of Oldham club Tokyo Project feels he has been unfairly victimised over a cut-price booze promotion.

John Johnson says he has been vilified in the media for offering revellers the chance to drink as much as they want for £5.99 every Friday in January.

But he says he is only doing what pubs and clubs around Oldham have been doing for years.

Mr Johnson said: “Offers like this have been going on for years in the town. We are not promoting binge drinking and this is the first time in our 10-year existence that we have ever had a drinks offer like this.

“We had no choice because we had lost our market share to Livingstones and Liquid/Envy which have regular cut-price drinks promotions. We simply had to follow what the rest of Oldham is doing.

“We said in November that if we could not pull something out of the bag by January we would have to close. This would mean people losing jobs which would have been a great shame.

“The licensing department has no say over what price clubs and pubs sell their alcohol at and I am meeting with members of the licensing department as soon as possible to ask for their help.

The £5.99 all you can drink offer ends on Friday but Mr Johnson has not ruled out the chance of similar promotions in the future.

He said: “The door policy is very strict. Our door staff will refuse admission to anyone who they suspect is intoxicated and our bar staff will refuse to serve anyone who they suspect is intoxicated. These rules apply every night.”