The G-A-Y Group, owners of the best-known gay and lesbian club in the UK, will open its first site outside London, after acquiring the Spirit nightclub in Manchester.
The group, which is a subsidiary of Mama Group, the live venue and artist management company, has acquired the leasehold interest of the 650-capacity Canal Street venue.
Jeremy Joseph of the G-A-Y Group said: “We’re very excited that such a suitable venue has presented itself for us to open the first G-A-Y venue outside of London.”
G-A-Y Group also operates its eponymous nightclub, which was formerly Heaven, in London’s Soho, and the nearby G-A-Y Bar.
Heaven was purchased by the Mama Group through its jointly-owned subsidiary company G-A-Y Ltd in September 2008.
This will be the second Mama Group venue in Manchester, after the company recently agreed to acquire The Ritz nightclub in the city’s Whitworth Street West.
The site was marketed by property advisor Christie + Co, acting on instruction of the joint administrators of Cougar Leisure Limited, Begbies Traynor.
Simon Chaplin, director of Christie + Co, said: “We are delighted to have achieved the sale of this superbly located club and bar to such a renowned organisation. With its capacity, and its central Manchester location, it is an excellent fit for the G-A-Y Group and is certain to add a distinctive flavour to the Manchester club scene.”
Of the 10 Cougar pubs and bars Christie + Co was instructed to market last year, it has sold the freehold of the Townhouse pub in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, to Wear Inns; the Berkley in Wigan to Amber Taverns; plus sites in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Romford to individual operators.
Of the remaining four sites, Christie + Co said it had received strong interest in all of them.
