A PROPERTY company has been appointed to sell the North East nightspots belonging to Absolute Leisure, which went into receivership last week, putting more than 50 jobs at risk.
The Newcastle office of Christie + Co will look after the sale of the Lounge pub and nightclub and Cocomo’s restaurant in the city, former floating nightclub the Tuxedo Princess, now docked in Middlesbrough, and the 19-room New Angel Hotel in Whitby.
It will also oversee the sale of Newcastle-based Absolute’s two Purple Door lap dancing clubs in Kingston upon Hull and Doncaster. Joint administrator Gerald Krasner from Begbies Traynor, said: “The directors closed the [Purple Door] clubs in Kingston upon Hull on Thursday night, however the Doncaster club is continuing to trade. We are confident of finding buyers for the sites.”
The Purple Door clubs were run by Lookchart Ltd, which is part of the Absolute Leisure group.
Christie + Co has been asked to market the properties by the administrators.
David Lee, director of Christie + Co’s Newcastle Office, said: “We believe the mixture of properties and operations included in the Absolute Leisure portfolio will be of particular interest to established local operators and local entrepreneurs in the licensed and retail sectors.”
Absolute, owned by Michael Quadrini, has suffered as a result of the recession, which has caused the closure of a pub every 10 days across the North East.
The company’s turnover plummeted from £9m in 2005 to £5m last year and it has also been hit hard by higher alcohol taxes, cheap supermarket booze and the smoking ban. Begbies Traynor said the group was a victim of the same problems as the rest of the industry as well as competition from the huge number of pubs and clubs in Newcastle.
The Tuxedo Princess, which was moved from the Tyne to the Tees last year, is currently empty. Mr Quadrini had obtained planning permission to turn it into a £10m office and restaurant complex.
Absolute also has a number of subsidiary companies, including Metwall and Youngkeen, but most have been dormant for some years and are not being handled by the administrators.
