CITY centre nightlife has taken a hit as the biggest Coventry nightclub has shut with the loss of
nearly 30 jobs.
The 2,735-capacity Lava and Ignite venue, at the Skydome complex, closed suddenly with no warning after 10 years.
The final day of trading was Easter Sunday but employees were not told until an emer-gency staff meeting the following week.
Thirteen people have been relocated to other Luminar venues but 27 people have been made redundant.
The nightclub was owned by Luminar Leisure, which also runs Skydome-based JJs and the former Chicago Rock Cafe which closed a few weeks ago.
In February the group announced a rigorous cost-cutting exercise after reporting like-for-like sales for 2009 were down by nearly 10 per cent and that trade had been affected by the bad weather, although JJs is safe after Luminar said they were “very pleased with its performance.”
Peter Turpin, operations director at Luminar Leisure, said: “The decision was taken following consultation with the club’s management and staff.
“We have chosen to focus our attention on JJs, our other neighbouring club in Coventry.
“JJs is the busiest late night entertainment venue in the city and we are very pleased with JJ’s ongoing performance.”
JD Wetherspoon is understood to be interested in the vacant Chicago Rock Cafe, and another nightclub operator is interested in taking over the Lava and Ignite site.
Ian Fox, managing director of Targetfollow, which owns the Skydome, said: “As a landlord we have been marketing this space and got some good initial interest from another nightclub operator.”
The nightclub opened as Ikon and Diva in 1999 and changed to Lava and Ignite following a £2million revamp in 2005.
It won the Best Bar None Godiva Award the following year for customer safety.
Mick McLaughlin, of city centre promotions firm CV One, said the closure was a “real shame”.
He added: “We are hoping that whatever moves into the units will be able to add a new dimension to the locale.”
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