A TOWN centre nightclub has been temporarily closed due to a "licensing issue".

Ikonic Nightclub, on Nelson's Square, was due to hold a wrestling event on Friday night until the issue forced them to cancel it.

Almost 300 people had bought tickets for the Preston City Wrestling (PCW) show - the first of its kind in Bolton town centre.

But on Thursday afternoon, just a day before the event was due to take place, PCW owner Steven Fludder was informed by nightclub owners that the event could no longer take place.

Mr Fludder said: “At 4.10pm, I got a message asking me to ring the venue and they told me it was a licensing issue.

“But obviously telling me a day before the event isn’t really suitable for me to do anything.”

Around 270 tickets were sold for the event and Mr Fludder said he stands to lose around £2,000 after having to move the show to a much smaller venue in Preston.

He added: “We sold loads of tickets, the venue was pretty much sold out and it’s so frustrating now because I stand to lose money.

“I can’t do much else, I’ll probably get 70 or 80 fans in but I still stand to lose about £2,000 on everything.

“I always pay the wrestlers if I cancel so I thought I may as well put on something.

“It’s a shame because people have been crying out for wrestling in Bolton.”

A spokesman for Ikonic Nightclub apologised and confirmed that the club would be back open next weekend.

A statement read: Unfortunately Ikonic will not be open this weekend, this is due to a small licensing issue caused by incorrectly filled out paperwork. "We would like to clarify that Ikonic has not lost its licence.

"We are currently working closely with the police, Bolton council and licensing to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to any customers that was due to attend PCW tonight at Ikonic.

"We would also like to apologise to any customers that was planning on visiting us this weekend.

"Despite not being open this weekend, we can confirm that we will be fully open for Saturday 8th December 2018."

The rescheduled event is at the PCW Academy, on St Mary's Street, Preston.