One of the most successful gay nightclubs in Europe is seeking to stay open all night under new licensing laws.

Revenge, in central Brighton, hopes to push back its weekend closing time from 4am to 6am.

Club bosses have also announced plans to expand the venue's customer base and attract people from all over the South Coast.

General manager James Webb said: "We are aiming to target along the coast and get more people over from Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth."

A year ago today the club's former owner, greengrocer-turned-millionaire Tony Chapman, revealed he was selling Revenge to focus on his hotel business.

Since then, under the new ownership of Stagfleet Ltd, the venue has continued to win awards. Last December it was named the best out-of-London gay club by readers of the Pink Paper and the best gay club in Brighton by G-Scene magazine.

Mr Webb, who is preparing to move on after almost a year running the club, said in spite of Brighton's increasingly tolerant attitude to gay men and women, the gay community still needed its own night time venues.

He said: "In the past gay pubs and clubs had to be more underground. As time has gone on more bars are becoming gay friendly and can tolerate gay business a little better. But there is still homosexual discrimination and gay people do have to be careful about how they behave."

Revenge opened as Brighton's first full-time gay club in 1991 on the site of a former student bar in the Old Steine.

The two-floor premises are licensed for 500 people, making Revenge a major leisure venue in the city and one of the principal gay venues in the South East.

Celebrities who have visited the club include Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker, actress Martine McCutcheon, TV star Denise Van Outen and entertainers Michael Barrymore and Julian Clary.

Barbara Windsor, the Pet Shop Boys and Boyzone have also dropped in.

Mr Webb said: "Revenge is very much the same as it was. It's still very popular, it's still gay and people are still having great nights."

Stagfleet Ltd, which bought the club for £1.5 million, has followed the example set by the club's previous owner by donating to charity the fees of performers who failed to show up.

The company also recently spent £40,000 refurbishing the venue.

Mr Webb said Revenge had avoided the problems faced by the owner of the lesbian Candy Bar night club in St James's Street, Brighton, who earlier this month announced she was selling the venue because there were not enough lesbians going clubbing to keep it in business.

Mr Webb accepted the increasing number of gay venues in the city was a concern but said: "We have been able to attract both men and women to the club."