Jimmy Marr of Park Leisure, who owned Deja Vu nightclub along with several pubs across the city, said last autumn he would “definitely pull the plug” on the Cowgate club in the new year unless the city council’s licensing board took steps to help the situation.
The lease for the Cowgate venue has been bought by former London Nightclub owner Tahir Ramzan after 15 years of ownership under Mr Marr.
The buseinssman said the other two large nightclubs in Dundee, Fat Sam’s and Liquid, are also struggling to attract customers due to there not being a “level playing field”.
At that time, Deja Vu only operated on Fridays and Saturdays, Fat Sam’s was open for just four hours on Saturdays and Liquid on a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Since then, Fat Sam’s has leased out two floors to Dundee businessman Tony Cochrane, who runs 1980s and 1990s-themed venues under the names Tropicana and Vogue.
Mr Marr blamed the “dire” situation on decisions made by the licensing committee over the past few years which, he says, have allowed the nightclub trade to be largely taken over by late-opening pubs and the casino.
Explaining his decision to sell Deja Vu, he said yesterday: “I just feel the licensing board have moved the goalposts too much in allowing pubs to operate later.
“There’s hardly any difference between pubs and clubs now in terms of late opening hours, plus the casino gets to sell alcohol until 6am.
“So my major disappointment has been the changes in the licensing laws. It’s still an uneven playing field.”
When Mr Marr expressed his views in October, licensing board convener David Bowes said: “I do feel for what Mr Marr is saying.
“It is unfortunate but we can’t take commercial issues into consideration when we are considering licence applications. We’re just not allowed to.”