THREE venues that were mainstays of Barrow nightlife remain unsold nearly two years after being placed on the market.

The Cry Bar, Skint and Kavanna’s will be fondly remembered as staples of the town’s night-time scene but no merrymaking has happened at the venues for a number of years.

After closing their doors to punters, they were put up for sale with estate agents Corrie and Co in 2018 in what was described as the end of Barrow’s ‘Gaza Strip’ of thriving clubs on Cornwallis Street and Lawson Street.

Nearly two years on, the venues are still to find a buyer and are being marketed by Chartered Surveyors James A Barker.

The three buildings are on the market for a combined total of £575,000.

The Cry and Kavanna’s are both for sale for £200,000 and Skint is listed for £175,000.

All are owned by the North East firm One Leisure.

The Cry however, which is spread over a number of floors and in need of structural work, will likely need a sizeable amount of capital to bring it up to scratch.

Kavanna’s is no longer listed online with Corrie and Co.

In response to the continuing deterioration of One Leisure’s empty venues, Barrow Borough Council’s planning department ordered the firm to carry out remediation work to spruce up the dilapidated buildings.

All three are advertised as opportunities to develop into other uses.

One Leisure, run by Stuart Bowes and Dave Anderson, owns around 80 per cent of the properties in Cornwallis Street, made up of the old Rick Lucas empire of the Imperial hotel and the Kavanna’s, Martinis and Scorpio nightclubs. Mr Lucas also owned the Princess Selandia ‘floating nightclub’ housed in a former Danish ferry which he bought in 2004.

The boat closed in August 2010 and in 2015 the Selandia left Barrow for Frederikshavn in Denmark to be scrapped.

The Cornwallis Street hotels and clubs were sold by Mr Lucas to Gem Leisure in 2004 for £4.3m.

Within months Gem Leisure folded with financial troubles.