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By SIMON MANN
But Mr McKay also revealed that Ritzy
PLANS ANNOUNCED last week to completely overhaul will undergo its own £500,000 refit and Norwich's nightlife will bring more clubs to the City and a the club will be renamed 'The Zone'. revamp for student haunt, Ritzy. 'The whole decor is being remodelled Club capacity is set for an increase of almost I ,000 in the period leading up to Christmas, and will rise by a further 3,000 before the end of 1998. Luminar Leisure, who already run the nightspot Peppennint Park last year, with Chicago Rock Cafe in Norwich, have the intention of carrying out a refit. applied for planning pennission on the However, they had to scrap their plans when building work unexpectedly site of the Wallace King furniture store revealed parts of the original structure, in Prince of Wales Road. which were made the subject of a Overhaul preservation order. The new Zoots night-club could Lurninar hope to carry out a £1 million overhaul on the site, turning it into a 750 provide serious competition for Rank capacity club named Zoots. Leisure, who run Ritzy in Tombland. Since Peppermint Park closed last No-one from the company was available for comment last week, but one summer, the Ritzy 'I st Degree' Monday night student event has bad no largeof Luminar' s directors, Steve Dennis, scale competitor. recently told the Evening News: "We are talking about bringing But Ritzy' s manager, Peter McKay, something which is exciting, new and remains unconcerned by the threat. "We have absolutely no objection to different to the City. "We understand Norwich and we any kind of competition," he said. understand the people of Norwich and "Night-clubs are not just about we have seen the need and demand for a premises, they are about the way they are operated. We are confident of our night-club." skills." and Luminar
to bring it into line with today's market", he said. 'There will be more 'comfort zones' and more fixed seating, and we are also increasing our total capacity from 1,000 to 1,200." Rank Leisure are also heavily involved in the new Riverside Leisure Park project to be built between the railway station and Carrow Road football stadium.
Live music The company plans to spend £8 mimon building a I ,000 capacity live music and comedy club venue called 'Jumpin' Jaks', together with an as yet un-named 2,000 capacity night-club. Both venues should be open by the end of 1998 and Mr McKay is hoping to attract visitors from far and wide. "I am sure that Rank Leisure's involvement in the Riverside project will make Norwich a regional centre for nightlife," be said.
CONCRETE gives an exclusive behind the scenes look at preparations for UEA's Summer Fashion Show, due to take place next Wednesday and Thursday. Tickets for the show can be bought from the Union Finance Office and the charity set to benefit from the event is the British Heart Foundation. eo-organiser, Andy Watson said that
he hoped the show would make a major Impact on UEA. "We will have a really good Fashion Show that people will talk about for the rest of the year," he said "Tickets are selling quite well at the moment. Many students have got exams and therefore are thinking of other things than the Fashion Show, but hopefully we will be able to get the audience In."