The chief executive of an arts centre which is more than £1 million in debt is resigning over plans to stage pop concerts in the building.

Stephen Neiman plans to leave the Old Market in Upper Market Street, Hove, at the end of March, although he has not yet formally handed in his notice.

Mr Neiman says proposals for pop performances at the Old Market do not fit in with the original vision of a place of excellence for concerts and recordings of classical music.

The Old Market opened in May last year with almost £6 million from the National Lottery, the old Hove Council, English Heritage, power firm Seeboard, the Government's single regeneration budget scheme and private donations.

It ran into financial difficulties and had to bailed out with a £275,000 loan from Brighton and Hove Council.

Now the funders and trustees want to include rock and reggae performances in the venue's programme to try to reduce the debt and make the centre more financially viable.

Mr Neiman said: "The Old Market is being encouraged to go down paths that I don't necessarily have the experience for. I don't necessarily agree with the lines the funders want us to follow.

"I didn't set it up to be yet another venue in town. We spent a fortune of public money on specialist acoustics and they should be used properly. I have taken it to a specific stage and now I am letting someone else take over."

Mr Neiman said a consultants' report on how the Old Market could fit in with entertainment provision in the town recommended holding pop concerts.

He said: "The acoustics here have not been created for pop concerts.

"We are an isolated site, in the middle of a residential area, and if there are hordes of people here seven nights a week we are not going to be very popular.

"I don't see the need for spending more public money on supporting pop concerts - there are already enough venues.

"I don't think we should inflict that on residents. We could have classical, jazz, anything that makes use of the very fine acoustics we have.

"I am very disappointed to resign but there comes a point when you have to make a decision as to whether you go with the funders or you go it alone with your own trustees and private funding."

John Wells-Thorpe, deputy chairman of the Old Market Trust, said: "Now the building is ready, it is a considerable asset and we want to see it used more than it is at the moment.

"A lot of money was spent and we have got to make sure there is a plan for repayment.

"We are perfectly happy to do that as long as it is good pop, reggae, jazz or whatever. That is not to say the neighbourhood will be throbbing with rock concerts. The administrators would have to be very careful over who they let to."

He added: "I am sorry we will not have the benefit of Stephen Neiman's involvement but he feels uncomfortable with the amended formula. He has done a tremendous job and it was his idea to buy and convert the building."

The trust hopes to sell off land it owns opposite the centre for housing to pay off about £500,000 of the debt.