'Hot yoga' and restaurant planned for troubled Wolverhampton Uberra club

The new businesses at the former Uberra Club, in the city centre's canalside quarter, will create up to 25 jobs. The news has been welcomed by city leaders who hail it as a 'new chapter' for the landmark building on the corner of the Ring Road and Wednesfield Road.

A company specialising in 'hot yoga' has already been signed up to move into the first floor. It is hoped to launch the fitness centre as soon as March or April. A decision on who will take on the restaurant will be made in the near future.

Wolves fan Tom Kirwan was fatally stabbed during a mass brawl outside the club in July 2012. The fight had started inside and spilled out on to the street.

Despite numerous police appeals for information no-one has stood before a court charged with the 23-year-old's factory worker's murder. In December a £15,000 reward was put up by his family and Crimestoppers to help find his killer.

The new plans for the club were welcomed by Labour MP Emma Reynolds, who represents this part of the city. She said:

Councillor Milkinderpal Jaspal, who represents the city centre, said he hoped it would be a 'new chapter' for the Grade II-listed building, originally a British Waterways depot.

He said: "Its situation on the Ring Road, next to the railway station, makes it a key location, and part of the new canalside development. The building has had a long history as a club but nobody has really made a go of it.

"So I welcome this plan for a restaurant and a fitness centre which fits in perfectly with the new regeneration plans for this area. It is long overdue."

The venue, bought by Dale Investments in June 2010, was renowned in its late-1990s heyday for attracting top DJs. It opened as the Uberra, following a £250,000 revamp, in December 2011. After the stabbing, it was shut for three months, reopening under its previous name, the Canal Club, in October 2012 after a further £100,000 makeover.

Owner Kultar Dale closed the club last year with the idea of turning it into residential apartments but had a change of heart. He is looking to lease the ground-floor as a high-end restaurant, seating 80-100 diners, but may take on the venture himself, he said. He already has a restaurant in the city, specialising in French cuisine, next to Italian restaurant Bella, in Chapel Ash.

He said he was considering installing a glass floor where the canal runs under the building as a feature.