In an attempt to tempt customers back to the former Atlantis club which reopens as Kudos this Friday, October 19, the manager has radically overhauled the security system and introduced female door staff.

Freddy Hassal, or Freddy H as he likes to be called, has also renamed the Colonnades-based club in an effort to shed its old image.

Atlantis night club was riddled with an increasingly bad reputation for the last year and known for its violence. There was a gangster shooting and high-speed car chase which began in the Colonnades car park on May 29.

The former Blue Orchid manager said: "The club was doing well at the beginning of the year.

"The shooting happened in the car park and the people doing the shooting weren't even customers of the club.

"People could just as easily have said that it happened outside the Pizza Hut but they didn't and Atlantis got a bad press.

"As for fights, that also goes on at clubs in the town centre.

"The venue has had its problems in the recent past but I'm coming in here with a clean slate, a talented team and an extremely positive attitude."

"It's not just the name that's changed. The inside looks the same but we've brought in a lot of measures to improve the club.

"We take our customers' views very seriously and have subsequently taken positive steps to resolve the security issue."

The manager has appointed two car park attendants to help monitor the whole Colonnades site. The Kudos club has increased its door staff from 10 to 17 and now has four women security staff.

He added: "It has long been argued that women are more adept at diffusing potentially difficult situations before they even become an issue.

"We are also looking to team up with one dedicated taxi company, giving the drivers some form of identification so that our customers know that they are using our approved service. In addition we will be running our own 51-seater shuttle bus, which will not only pick people up from the town centre and bring them to Kudos but also take them back at the end of the night."

The Kudos club now has four different rooms each with a different type of music.

The bar area will be filled with British pop and chart music, the main room will have garage, R'n'B and Old Skool music but those in the VIP area will hear music from the 1970s and 80s.

The First Leisure Corporation owned club, which has been closed since September 8, is under new management and will reopen this Friday, October 19, as Kudos.

Two members of the Dream Team will be in the club on opening night. The club will be open on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and there is free admission for anyone in the Kudos bar before 10pm.

October 23, 2001 17:00