A NEWLY-refurbished nightclub that was hoping to revitalise a town’s nightlife was forced to close just hours after it re-opened after being issued with a prohibition notice.

Voodoo Lounge in Accrington had a relaunch on Friday night and saw clubbers party at the Willow Street venue until the small hours of the morning.

Initially, bosses said the club was broken into and a considerable amount of damage done as well as numerous pieces of equipment stolen, leaving them unable to open on Saturday and Sunday night as originally planned.

However, details have now emerged that the club was closed down by senior fire officers, who issued the management with a prohibition order.

Officers visited the club at around 3am on Saturday, following reports about fire safety concerns in the building.

Officers then returned to the premises on Saturday afternoon and issued a prohibition notice, advising bosses to cease trading until a number of safety concerns had been rectified.

A spokesperson for the fire service said: “We sent a senior officer to the premises just before the club was due to close and the officer then returned to the club later that afternoon with another member of the fire service and inspected and a number of fire safety concerns were found.

“A prohibition notice was issued and an investigation is now under way.

“They will not be able to re-open the club until the safety concerns are dealt with.”

Voodoo Lounge has had a number of problems since it was relaunched in October, when, within five weeks of opening, had to be closed due to a burst pipe that flooded the club.

A spokesperson from the police licensing department said that they were due to inspect the club on Saturday night, but were prevented from doing so following the issuing of the prohibition notice.

The spokesperson said: “We believe concerns were raised by the fire service on Saturday.”

A spokesperson for the club said that Voodoo Lounge was targeted by burglars after the opening night, with thieves damaging and stealing £10,000 worth of equipment, including money, audio and visual equipment, stock, fixtures and fittings, general necessaries, and a CCTV box.

They told the Lancashire Telegraph that they had reported the crime to the police but had not received a log number as they had been broken into a number of times before and had never had the situation resolved.

The spokesperson said: “There’s a handful of people trying to wreck our business and the concerns the fire service had were raised following the break-in.

“The fire service received four hoax calls on Friday morning, from someone saying there was a fire at the club. All four times we were cleared and given the go-ahead to open. Our utmost priority is public safety which is why we agreed to have the fire brigade come back after the break-in and we are now complying with the prohibition notice.”