The new owners of a live music venue have told their critics to "put up or shut up".

News that hoteliers Chris Edwards and Amanda Blanch had bought the Hanbury Ballroom in Brighton and planned to turn it into a private members' club, was met with horror by live music fans and clubbers.

Promoters lamented the loss of the venue, while letters in The Argus expressed concern for the city's music scene.

Mr Edwards and Ms Blanch, who run the Blanch House Hotel in Brighton, yesterday offered to sell the venue just weeks after buying it for an undisclosed sum and issued a scathing attack on their critics.

Ms Blanch, 40, said: "Both Chris and I have been astounded at the strength of reaction to our plans for the Hanbury Ballroom.

"I would like to set the record straight and throw down a challenge.

"We have not come to the Hanbury as destroyers of the Brighton music scene'. The Hanbury is being sold because it is not making money for its current owners.

"Rather than see this beautiful building rot we had plans to restore it into something Brighton could be proud of.

"Now we have been infected by the Brighton malaise that blights so many plans to drag our city into the 21st Century.

"So a challenge to Brighton musos and the promoters who make their living from the Hanbury: put your money where your mouth is. You can have it.

"Give us back what we've put in so far and we'll walk away."

It is not clear how much they have invested but they plan to close the venue for five weeks for a £100,000 makeover before reopening in October.

The building in St George's Road will be renamed the Hanbury Club, aimed at the city's creative community, with the first 1,500 to 2,000 members picked by a founding committee.

Membership is expected to be about £250 a year but £100 for artists, authors and musicians.

The upstairs bar, the Hanbury Arms, will be transformed into a cigar bar with papers, books and old-fashioned leather armchairs.

All post-August gigs have been cancelled although Ms Blanch said some artists may be invited to perform at monthly live events or could apply for membership.