THE owners of the nightclubs and venues making up Cornwallis Street have hinted at plans to transform what was once the thriving hub of Barrow's nightlife, The Mail can exclusively reveal.

The company which owns two thirds of the clubs in the town centre street, One Leisure, have confirmed they have plans for one of the closed and dilapidated venues - Kavanna's.

Having been closed for around three years, the former club is one of three empty venues in Cornwallis Street which are in desperate need of a makeover to bring the once-thriving street back to its former glory.

Durham-based firm One Leisure bought around 80 per cent of the properties in Cornwallis Street, made up of the old Rick Lucas empire of the Imperial hotel and the Kavanna’s, Martinis and Scorpio nightclubs back in 2007.

The hotels and clubs were bought from administrators Begbie Traynor after being in administration for two and a half years.

They were originally sold by Mr Lucas to Gem Leisure in 2004 for £4.3m, but within months Gem Leisure folded with financial troubles.

One Leisure directors Stuart Bowes and Dave Anderson would not reveal the price they paid at the time but did say it was significantly less than £4m.

Speaking to The Mail this week, Mr Bowes remained tight-lipped about the details of his plans for Kavanna's, for fear it would "impede any deals" but added: "There are definitely plans for it but I can't divulge that at the moment."

Mr Bowes said that while the owners must take responsibility for the upkeep of the premises he was shocked on a recent visit to Barrow to see the amount of weeds on the pavements.

"I know times are tough and we are in a period of austerity, or led to believe we are, but the footpaths aren't our responsibility yet we're constantly clearing weeds. That's what we pay our business rates for."

Mr Bowes has promised to reveal further details about Kavanna's future to The Mail as soon as he is able to.

WHO OWNS CORNWALLIS STREET?

Club M (open intermittently - last in 2015) - One Leisure

Hotel Imperial (open) - One Leisure

O'Sullivans (open) - One Leisure

Kavanna's (closed) - One Leisure

The Cry (closed) - Roger McKimm (businessman living in Australia who also owns the ill-fated House of Lords and Bar Contintental)

Circus Circus (closed) - last information provided confirmed it was owned by a group of local investors including Jon Wheeler and Graham Rushton.

Skint (closed) - in Lawson Street, formerly called Scorpio, is owned by One Leisure.