And the new owners of the North Road venue, Cavendish Bars Ltd, are looking for a new tenant to run the business, which is based in the historic former Gillows furniture building.

But it is believed that Cavendish will continue to operate the club until it is leased.

Liquid was one of 26 clubs sold by Luminar Group to Cavendish, which last year produced losses of £1.5 million.

The venues were sold for a total of £5 – equivalent to 19.2p each.

The club, which has a licensed capacity of 1,100 over 14,733-square-feet and is sandwiched between the Toast nightclub and the Living Woods Pine Shop, is available for £67,500 a year.

A spokesman for Davis Coffer Lyons, the property agent marketing the site, said: "This is a unique opportunity to run a club on a gateway into the city because we only want a letting and are not seeking a premium."

He added that while it could be possible for the new tenants to continue trading under the 'Liquid' brand, he believed that was unlikely. "I think anyone would want to re-brand and give it a facelift because it has never been that successful," he said.

Cavendish Bars could not be contacted as the Lancaster Guardian went to press while staff at Liquid declined to comment.