Jim Entwistle looks at the revival of the Fibbers nightclub.

THE biggest thing to hit York since the Vikings,” boast the black and yellow posters plastered on notice boards and in shop windows all across the North Yorkshire city.

This bullish publicity drive has been aimed straight at the hearts of York’s slumbering party crowd. It’s intended as a wake-up call to the almost-dormant late night scene… and the firm behind them is confident it has done just that.

Tokyo Industries, the entertainments company behind Digital and Tup Tup Palace in Newcastle, recently bought Fibbers, the small Stonebow music venue, and Tru nightclub, formerly Toffs, on Tofts Green.

“We’ve spent ten years trying to get into York, and then two opportunities came along at the same time,” says the company’s managing director Aaron Mellor, recapping on a whirlwind couple of months. At Fibbers, £250,000 has been spent on a complete overhaul of the layout, bar, and sound system. The venue’s capacity is now 450 as opposed to 280 previously.

Manchester band The Courteeners played at the club’s relaunch on Friday, and a capacity crowd cheered and sang along with nearly every word.

Mr Mellor admits work was still ongoing right up until the first punter walked through the door, but says the few teething troubles, one being the heat, will be rectified before local favourites Shed Seven perform on two nights next week.

He says: “We see Fibbers as being an incubator for the local music scene, somewhere to propagate bands, while also offering an intimate venue for the bigger, touring bands, like The Courteeners.”

Mr Mellor feels that Fibbers, and his firm’s other venues in Huddersfield, Manchester and Newcastle would act together as a hub to draw in some of the most sought after talent touring.

As for Tru, now renamed Tokyo York, the student mainstay is now closed for refurbishments and will reopen on October 8. The club will host events such as Hed Kandi, Ministry of Sound, KissDaFunk and Retro. Mr Mellor said the emphasis would be on enticing customers in through the quality of the experience rather than through cheap drinks.

“We have to give a reason for people to come to our venues, it has to be about the content,” he adds.

For years, York has seemed stranded on the A59 with the majority of acts, and their fans, blithely thundering past the city up or down the A1 between Leeds and Newcastle. But if Tokyo Industries gets its way, that is all about to change.