A leisure firm specialising in Eastern European alcohol has taken over plans for a £1.8 million seafront superclub.

Manchester-based Inventive Leisure, which runs Revolution vodka bars across the UK, is bidding to open a venue at the Aquarium Terraces in Brighton.

The firm is making the most of uncertainty and delays which have dogged rival operators Po Na Na's plans for the site in Madeira Drive, Brighton.

Po Na Na won permission to open a 1,040-capacity, £1.5 million club at the troubled premises but the scheme looked doomed after the firm went into administration in May.

Former director David Phelps led a £6 million buy-out in August, taking control of many of Po Na Na's bars and clubs across the UK.

However, administrators Grant Thornton have held on to the 14,000sqft premises at the Terraces for which Po Na Na agreed a 25-year, £150,000-a-year deal in September 2001.

This has enabled Inventive Leisure to make its own bid to open a £1.8 million, two-level cafe-bar at the venue.

Development manager Godfrey Russell said the venue, holding a maximum of 950 people, would not be a nightclub.

He said: "It will be a mixture of food, drinking and dancing. We'll probably have a small dancefloor in the basement area but it will be predominantly for late lounging and dining.

"This is a very exciting scheme. The Terraces have been empty for too long. There have been a number of firms like Cream and Po Na Na which wanted to open but have fallen by the wayside.

"We're confident we can make this work."

The firm, which runs 33 Revolution bars and seven other venues, claims to offer the best-quality Eastern European beers, wines and spirits.

Inventive Leisure hopes to start work on site early next year, in time for a summer 2004 opening.

The company has submitted two planning applications to Brighton and Hove City Council to make alterations to the now empty Unit Nine of the Aquarian Terraces.

Inventive Leisure has also made an application for a liquor licence, which is due to be heard on November 6.

Sussex Police licensing officer Kareen Plympton said police would not be challenging the application, which replicated terms and conditions set down by a judge at Lewes County Court last March.

Brighton magistrates refused Po Na Na a late drinks licence in August last year.

An appeal hearing at Lewes resulted in a 1am licence with conditions, including a hotline for residents to report problems and CCTV cameras.

The St James's Street Action Group and the Kingscliffe Society had expressed concerns about late-night noise and disturbance from the venue.

Society secretary Dr Janie Thomas said: "We hope the hard-fought conditions we won at Lewes will be upheld."

Tuesday October 14, 2003