THE owner of new Bolton club Level hopes the new look venue will help transform the town centre's nightlife.

Sam Zegrour, aged 30, spent his youth clubbing in Bolton and hopes to "put the town back on the map" and recreate some of the magic of years gone by.

After four months of refurbishment, the club, which sits on the former site of J2, looks almost unrecognisable from its predecessor after a £700,000 facelift.

The club promoter and director of Liverpool-based student events company Cool It Management, took over the nightclub in May. After running the club as J2 for a month he closed the venue to revamp the building, which will be open to the public on Friday, November 27, as a 1,600 capacity venue.

Mr Zegrour said: "I'm very precious about Bolton — it was my night out when I was younger and I had some fantastic nights out here. A lot of people are not willing to invest in the town so sadly it's not as thriving as it once was, so hopefully we can help put the town back on the map in terms of night life.

"As much as it's a business for me I'm very passionate about bringing back its potential. It just needs a bit of time and investment. I have been in the industry for about 12 years now and it's no secret that satellite towns like Bolton have been eaten up by big cities. If new ideas are put into the place then there's no reason why it can't go back to the way it was."

Bury-born Mr Zegrour set up his own events company aged 21 and one of his first jobs was running Friday nights at J2, so he stayed in touch with the club's owners over the years before deciding to buy it with Charles McGrath, aged 29.

Mr Zegrour said: "We have done a lot of work to transform the club. We've gone back to brick and tried to address the issues with the venue from all angles including the way that you enter the building. We've created a more grand entrance with a new cloak room and purpose built first aid room in the back.

"Pretty much all the work has come from the Bolton builders and electricians who have done the flooring, lighting and new bars. We have had some work commissioned from a number of North West based artists to do some graffiti style artwork in various rooms.

"We still have a bit of work to do in terms of aesthetics, but we're almost done and can't wait to open."

To find out more information about the opening night, and future events, visit facebook.com/levelbolton or levelbolton.com.