Clubbers hit out at venue ‘riding the coattails’ of previous venue

Clubbers have accused the operators of a new nightclub of trading on the name of one of Dundee’s most legendary venues.

The Rooms will open in St Roque’s Library on Friday.

It was home to the Reading Rooms which was forced to close earlier this year after police said they feared someone would die due to drug taking on the premises.

The operators of the Reading Rooms, Jim and Grant Grieve, denied all wrongdoing and will open a new venue, called Kings, in the former King’s Theatre on Saturday.

They leased the Blackscroft venue, which has the Reading Rooms inscribed above the door, for 17 years and it gained a reputation as one of Scotland’s best nightclubs.

New operators plan to reopen it.

Derek Souter, owner of the building, said he is still owed rent by the club’s previous tenants and has had to spend around £50,000 on internal alterations to make the building safe.

He said all intellectual property associated with the name Reading Rooms has been passed to him as part of security for unpaid rent.

However, fans of the original venue have criticised the new operators for their choice of name.

Bobbi McMillan said: “Shocking, riding on the coattails of the most iconic Dundee music venue.

“You’ll never be able to ‘bring back that special place’... that ‘special place’ has now relocated to The Kings.”

Rachel Blackwell added: “Not really been working tirelessly when all you’ve done is badly rip off someone else’s hard work.”