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Aberdeen nightclub boss vows to fight on – despite council ‘hammering trade’ with late pub hours

Tony Cochrane claims that people aren't visiting clubs and are instead choosing to stay in bars until the early hours.

Aura nightclub and Tony Cochrane
Club boss Tony Cochrane with his latest venture, Aura nightclub. Image: Roddie Reid/DC Thomson

The boss of Aberdeen’s Aura club has vowed to “fight hard” to keep it alive, despite claiming council rules are pushing nightspots to the brink.

Tony Cochrane spoke out after his appeal to open for a business-boosting extra hour from Sunday to Thursday was dismissed by the local authority.

The nightclub owner is also behind the popular Club Tropicana in Aberdeen and other venues in Dundee and across Scotland.

Mr Cochrane told us the recent blow was the “icing on the cake” after a tough few years.

He said: “The whole hospitality sector is finding it tough just now and has been since Covid.

“This is just the icing on the cake.”

‘We’ve never closed a club in our lives’

The Bridge Place venue relaunched as Aura in September after a £400,000 transformation.

But it has been struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis affecting punters’ pockets and surging power bills.

Mr Cochrane says Aberdeen City Council’s recent decision to allow bars to operate until 2am is making it tougher to stay afloat.

Tony Cochrane pictured at the Aura nightclub in Dundee. Image: DC Thomson

“Bars are open late and people don’t come out now until later”, he said.

“By the time they are in the bars, they don’t want to go along to a nightclub for just one hour.

“We will fight hard, we don’t want to close. We’ve never closed a club in our lives.”

How could extra hour have helped Aura?

Aura nightclub is a popular venue for students in Aberdeen.

The club wanted to open until 3am for weekly fundraising events to be held in conjunction with the city’s two universities each Wednesday.

Aura nightclub reopened after a £400,000 revamp. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

“The student night is midweek so if we’ve got a chance, we’ve got to try and make things survive,” Mr Cochrane explained.

“We don’t charge excessively and we have deals for students – we keep it back to the bare bone as it is.

“If people come in later we only have a tiny timeframe to try and make any money.”

He also explained that the student market goes quiet “out of season” and the club needed to make sure it could make a profit while the clubbers are here.

Fears for historic nightclub building’s future

Mr Cochrane noted board convener Neil Copland’s comment at the licensing meeting that other operators were having a hard time.

“That’s just admitting that the industry is having a hard time so rather than try and solve it, they said no to everything.

“You need that extra little bit to turn it from just surviving into a profit.”

The impresario was also worried that the historic building, which has been used as a club for more than 40 years, could shut its doors for good.

Locator of the Institute Nightclub (formerly Liquid).

“If it should ever fail then that will be another big empty shell in the middle of Aberdeen, no-one is going to use it for anything else.

“You would have hoped that the city council would try and help protect things, we weren’t asking for anything demanding.

“But they just dug their heels in and said no.”

Will any licensing action be taken in the future?

Going forward, the club boss admitted he may attempt to open the venue later by applying for temporary occasional licences.

However, an Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said nightclub owners had the chance to comment on its rules during a recent consultation.

She added: “Whilst the Board are unable to comment on individual applications, the current Statement of Licensing Policy was finalised in November 2023 following an extensive consultation exercise.

“The policy on licensed hours was unchanged as no evidence was received to justify amendment.”

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