A Dundee nightclub owner will deliver a cash boost to a Lochee charity being inspired by a local councillor’s stance on the V&A Dundee.
Tony Cochrane wanted to hand over an initial £1,000 to become a founding patron of the £80 million facility but was rejected because his business interests were deemed “contradictory to V&A Dundee’s core aims and values”.
Mr Cochrane owns the Private Eyes clubs among a total of 14 venues stretched across every city in Scotland, has a partnership in an LA-based production company and previously donated £12,000 to Archie’s Tayside Children’s Hospital Appeal.
The 52-year-old said he now plans to give the cash earmarked for te design museum to a good cause in Lochee after councillor Charlie Malone confirmed he turned down an invitation to the museum’s opening to stand with constituents who live in “deprivation”.
Mr Cochrane also pledged to raise significantly more through fundraising and other efforts after establishing the most suitable cause with community leaders.
The businessman, who will open new club Aura below the city’s Fat Sams music venue on September 8, said: “I made contact and was thanked for my offer of help and copied in with one of the other team members who also thanked me and they were both keen to meet up.
“I sent off the form confirming my donation then I get this response basically telling me they were returning my donation as I was unfit to be connected with.
We will make a donation to a needy local charity instead now as I see councillor Charlie Malone is refusing to go to the opening because of the deprivation in the area where I was brought up.”
Mr Malone received the backing of local community groups for his stay-away stance, which is based on a belief that people living in poverty may be left out.
It follows the announcement of anti-poverty protests to be held during the build-up and opening day by Unite the Community Tayside, including banners highlighting high levels of poverty and drug deaths in the city.
A spokesman for V&A Dundee declined to comment.
