Nightclub company Tokyo acquires two venues

Nightclub company Tokyo Industries, co-owners of FAC251 The Factory, Manchester's iconic new indie club, has announced the acquisition of two new venues - Manchester venue 'South' and the historic 'Fibbers' in York.

Tokyo Industries, which operates from bases in Manchester and Newcastle, owns and operates sixteen of the UK's leading live music and nightclub venues, including high profile venues Digital in Newcastle, Digital in Brighton alongside its 'Mansion House' venues in Newcastle, Huddersfield, Bradford & Oldham, and Tup Tup Palace, also in Newcastle.

Tokyo Industries has acquired South from Paul Cons, the venues' owner for the last fifteen years.

Cons was previously the promotions manager at the Haçienda & Factory Records.

Aaron Mellor, managing director, Tokyo Industries, said: "We were talking about the FAC251 project and that led us into assisting Paul & Clint (Boon) with some work on updating South for its 15th Birthday. Paul now lives in London and weekly travels to Manchester had become too much.

"We've worked out a deal that will retain all the best aspects of South but create a sizable

investment budget to update the look with a new Ben Kelly designed interior and seriously improve the sound system with another bespoke Funktion One system."

"South's addition to the Tokyo Industries family is an obvious coupling; it's a top club with a great following and will dovetail neatly with FAC251 operations.

"We want it to become an incubator venue for smaller more boutique music nights, as well as retaining the core weekend offer South is famed for."