Clubs call in debt team

Liquid and Envy nightclub

THE owner of Oldham’s Liquid and Envy nightclubs is to go into administration.

But a spokesman for Luminar, the UK’s biggest nightclub owner, has said that the Waterloo Street venues will continue to open and it is hoped a buyer will be found.

The group employs 3,000 full and part-time staff in 75 clubs across the UK, including Oceana, Liquid, Envy and Lava & Ignite.

Its core market of 18 to 24-year-olds has been hit by high levels of youth unemployment. The smoking ban and changes in licensing laws allowing pubs to stay open longer have also hurt.

Leniency
Luminar recorded losses of £198million in the year to the end of February and sales dropped by 19 per cent to £137million.

It has approximately £85million of net debt owed to the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB.

The group said that it had no option but to call in administrators after lenders said they would not extend a period of leniency which was due to end today.