Pussycats nightclub is sold in £650,000 deal

Medlink Enterprises, which also ran the Midnight nightclub, plus the Odyssey Restaurant, Oxygen Nightclub, and O2 Bar in Telford's Central Square, has now offloaded all of the clubs under a pre-pack administration deal.

The company was owned by local businessman Costas Vanezi.

The deal has seen them snapped up by Multicomplex Ltd and T&G Alliance Ltd - both of which list George Simyonidis as their sole director - for £650,000.

Administrators Mark Malone and Gareth Price, of Begbies Traynor, said the company was suffering "increasingly greater financial difficulties" as a consequence of general tougher market conditions in the nightclub, bar and causal dining sectors.

They also said the level of direct competition has grown significantly in the local area.

"The amount of bank debt was also very high following the introduction of debt over many years to fund the acquisition of land and buildings and periodic refurbishment costs," they said in a statement. "This debt level was deemed a much greater risk to the bank following a re-valuation of the freehold and the trading business.

"The company had also begun to build up an amount of unsecured legacy debt, including rent, service charges, rates and utilities."

They said they are aware of an existing business relationship between Medlink and a dessert shop business, owned by Mr Simyonidis, which operates under the license agreement.

Advice

The statement added: "In early 2019, having previously sought some general advice during 2018 and having considered options, the director, Costas Vanezi, decided to seek professional advice and contacted Begbies Traynor on January 9, 2019, to discuss these options.

"Mr Vanezi was by now aware of a potentially interested party for the business and assets of the company. He was also aware that creditor pressure had not eased, legacy debts had not significantly reduced and there were increasing threats of legal actions being taken against the company.

"It was quickly decided that the best cause of action was to file a Notice of Intention to appoint administrators.

"We embarked upon an intense period of work and discussions with the director to evaluate the best way forward. As part of this work we approached all significant creditors, including the secured creditor and landlord to obtain agreement from these parties to the proposed course of action, namely to widely market the business and assets for sale.

"Following a successful evaluation and having obtained professional valuations of the company's assets from independent agents, it was established a sale of the business and assets could be concluded, that would maximise the monies available, enable the business to survive and protect all respective employment positions.

"During the period, we filed two further concurrent Notices of Intention to appoint administrators, to enable an offer for the business and assets to be fully evaluated and agreed. As a result we successfully negotiated a sale of the business and asses that was recommended to be accepted agents and was approved by the secured creditor."

Pussycats has previously been a fixture of Telford’s night life and has been popular with clubbers, regularly holding events and attracting celebrities from shows including EastEnders and Geordie Shore and popular musicians.