Rent row halts nightclub plan (From Gazette & Herald)

Rent row halts nightclub plan

A NIGHTCLUB will not open in the heart of Ryedale because rents are too high, say organisers.

The £750,000 project, put forward by three local investors, would have provided Malton and Norton with its first nightclub.

But investor David Bradley said the project will not go ahead because the rent on a disused building they had hoped to use was double what they had expected to pay.

"I am cheesed off with the way things have turned out because the idea had a lot of potential," he said.

"It would have benefited the pubs in the towns because instead of going to York or Scarborough for a night out they would have stayed in Malton and Norton.

"We had managed to raise more than £700,000 towards the project and we had received support from Ryedale District Council."

But he said the plan fell apart when they approached the owners of the building they had hoped to use, in Norton Grove Industrial Estate, where the former Malton Bacon Factory, Grampian Foods, is based.

"We offered them £25,000 a year rent but they told us the rent would be more like £50,000 a year," said Mr Bradley, who formerly ran the Kings Head pub, in Malton.

"This was way out of our budget and there was no way we were going to pay that much.

"It is stupid because the building has been empty for two or more years. How do they expect to get anyone in if they are going to keep the rents so high?

"Ultimately Malton and Norton have lost out because of it."

But Gerald Phillips, managing director of owners Norton Grove Construction and Development Company, based in Leeds, denied the rents were too high.

"This is quite a cheap building for that area," he said.

"Usually the rent for a 14,000 square foot building like that is around £4 per square foot.

"We would have been happy to accept £40,000 a year but there was no way we would have taken £25,000 a year.

"We have two prospective tenants who have expressed an interest in the site.

"It has been empty for two years but we feel we can hold on until the right offer comes along."

Updated: 09:03 Friday, April 12, 2002