LIVE music venue Fibbers has been sold, for the second time this year.

The site in Stonebow, which has hosted big names including Nirvana and Oasis and holds student club nights, has been bought by Tokyo Industries, which is investing in a major refurbishment.

Fibbers was part of the Barfly network of venues, owned by music and media business the MAMA Group, which was bought by HMV in March.

Tokyo Industries, which also owns Tokyo-branded clubs in Huddersfield, Newcastle and Bradford, among others, has now bought Fibbers from HMV.

Tokyo Industries is investing in the 18-year-old club, increasing its capacity and installing a Funktion-One sound system.

It will be closed throughout August while it is refurbished and will relaunch in September.

The firm said it would increase the club-night agenda, while driving the live programme.

Oliver Webb, promotions assistant at Fibbers, said the sale was “fantastic” news for the club. He said: “Tokyo Industries have a lot of big plans ahead and there will be quite a lot of big things happening for the relaunch, including some big artists and big club nights.”

But he said Fibbers would retain its ethos of an intimate venue for good music.

He said: “The feedback we have got so far is half and half. Some people say it is great that people are going to put money into Fibbers and others are worried it’s going to turn into a club.

“It is going to look very different, but it will still have that same feel and will still have gigs. It will still be Fibbers but we’ll have bigger club nights and more club nights,” he said.

Nigel Holiday, operations manager at Tokyo Industries, comes from Pickering and went to university in York.

He said: “I’m well aware of Fibbers; it’s a local institution and has been well established over the past 18 years.

“We’re in this to preserve what clubbers and live music fans like me love about Fibbers.

“Our aim is to give the venue some much needed TLC.”

Aaron Mellor, managing director of Tokyo Industries, said Fibbers would be able to take advantage of the bookings for its other clubs of touring bands and DJs.