A MAJOR piece of Barrow’s history is set to take on a new identity with three of the town’s nightclubs being put on the market by the current owners. 

The owners of two thirds of the nightclubs making up the Cornwallis Street hub have confirmed three of their venues are to be sold, The Mail can exclusively reveal.

Last August North East-based firm One Leisure hinted at plans for one of the vacant venues in Cornwallis Street, Kavanna’s, but remained tight-lipped about any specific detail. The firm also owns Club M, The Cry and Skint. 

Then in May this year, in response to the continuing deterioration of the firm’s empty venues Barrow Borough Council’s planning department ordered One Leisure to carry out remediation work to spruce up the dilapidated buildings. 

Durham-based firm One Leisure carried out the work and is now poised to put the The Cry, Skint and Club M on the market with local estate agency Corrie & Co. 

A price for each of the properties to be marketed at is yet to be agreed and it is not known if the owners will look to sell all three as a package or if they are prepared to sell them separately. 

Although some Mail readers have expressed concerns on Facebook that the sites could be converted to other uses estate agent David Corrie is confident the buildings can retain their leisure use. 

“I think there is a gap in the market for some quality leisure venues,” Mr Corrie told The Mail. 

“We have someone looking at the need for leisure sites in Barrow and we’ve just sold Kwik Save in Holker Street which is set to become a bingo hall.”

Club M has been vacant for three years and of the three clubs it is the one which could be converted and refurbished relatively easily and without the need for significant investment. 

The Cry however, which is spread over a number of floors and in desperate need of some structural work, will likely need a sizeable amount of capital to bring it up to scratch. 

However, as a similar size and structure to Hotel Imperial, The Cry could easily lend itself to being converted to a hotel.

Other nearby projects, such as the recently-completed Escape Hotels in the former Probation Service building and the Holiday Inn under construction round the corner, show there is a demand for more accommodation in Barrow. 

Mr Corrie revealed One Leisure had been considering “all options” regarding their empty venues but eventually decided to sell up given the confidence in the local market. 

“They were looking at all the options including developing,” he said. 

“We live in very uncertain times so to see this sort of thing happening here is great and shows there is room for more investment.

“With the hotel going up next to the town hall things are looking up in Barrow.”

The right investment could create a central town centre leisure hub, made up of the blocks surrounding Cornwallis Street, Lawson Street and Market Street, Mr Corrie suggested. 

“All you need is to get two or three of these buildings to be done up and it will absolutely transform that area,” he added.

“It’s really important for the town because it does look really tired at the moment. 

“The current owners believe the town’s prospects will attract more investment.”

When asked why One Leisure had waited until now to put the properties on the market, considering they have remained empty for so long, Mr Corrie highlighted this as an example of Barrow’s growing prospects. 

“In the past there was a perception that they wouldn’t get the right money or interest in them,” he said.

“But now things are looking up and they are confident the opportunities are there.”

WHAT'S HAPPENED TO BARROW'S NIGHTCLUBS?

MANY readers will remember the good old days of a night out in Barrow centred around the various pubs, clubs and venues in and around Cornwallis Street. 
One Leisure, run by Stuart Bowes and Dave Anderson, owns 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.
Mr Lucas also owned the Princess Selandia ‘floating nightclub’ housed in a former Danish ferry which he bought in 2004. The boat closed in August 2010 and in 2015 the Selandia left Barrow for Frederikshavn in Denmark to be scrapped.
The Cornwallis Street hotels and clubs were sold by Mr Lucas to Gem Leisure in 2004 for £4.3m, but within months Gem Leisure folded with financial troubles.
The hotels and clubs were then bought by One Leisure from administrators Begbie Traynor in 2007 after being in administration for two and a half years.
Mr Bowes would not reveal the price paid at the time but did say it was significantly less than £4m.
Another recent casualty in Barrow’s nightlife was Yates in Duke Street. The venue was closed in March 2013 after the building was deemed to be structurally unsafe and was later demolished. 
Of all the once-great venues in the area surrounding Cornwallis Street only Hotel Imperial’s Aspire cocktail bar remains open today. 


WHO OWNS CORNWALLIS STREET?

Club M (open intermittently - last in 2015) - One Leisure;
Hotel Imperial and Aspire (open) - One Leisure;
O’Sullivans (closed) - One Leisure;
Kavanna’s (closed) - One Leisure;
The Cry (closed) - One Leisure (formerly owned by Roger McKimm who owns the ill-fated Bar Continental and House of Lords in Abbey Road);
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.