The new owners of Brighton's top gay nightclub insist they will not change a thing.

Businessmen Robert Webb and Michael Deol have paid £1.2 million for the Revenge club and Mr Webb's son James officially became manager yesterday.

Tony Chapman, who opened the venue 12 years ago and turned it into the leading gay club in the South-East, said goodbye with a party at the club.

Stagfleet Ltd, the leisure investments firm buying Revenge, already owns the three-star Sackville Hotel in Hove and The Opposition pizza restaurant in Market Street, Brighton, as well as venues in London and Oxford.

James Webb, a 27-year-old former barman at the Sackville Hotel, insisted rumours suggesting the club would either close down or go straight were untrue.

He said: "The club has a very strong regular customer base and I want to assure them it's going to be the same as always.

"The only changes we might make involve some refurbishment later in the year."

Apart from Mr Webb, the ten-strong staff will remain the same.

Mr Webb said: "We were looking for a nightclub and when we got word Revenge was up for sale we jumped at the chance.

"It's such a successful club with a very good hold on the market and it's very much part of the gay community."

Croydon-born Mr Webb, who has worked in bars and clubs in London, Amsterdam and Japan, has been shadowing Mr Chapman for the past two months.

He said: "Tony's been very good to me. He hasn't just turned away because he's selling up. He really cares about the place."

David Barling, of Dean Wilson Laing solicitors which represented Stagfleet in negotiations, said: "I genuinely believe our clients have bought this because they have great faith in the venue.

"They will continue to promote it as much as previously and will enhance it."

Mr Chapman bought the venue - then known as the Savannah Club - for £200,000 and opened Revenge to a full house in July 1991.

The growth since then of the gay leisure scene is thought to have brought in millions of pounds to the city's economy.

Revenge has become a popular nightspot for celebrities, including Julian Clary, Graham Norton, The Pet Shop Boys, Martine McCutcheon, Jarvis Cocker and Denise Van Outen.

Mr Chapman told The Argus last month: "I want to get my life back. I've not had a holiday for 12 years."

The new owners are planning charity nights on April 11 and May 30, with all door money going to Aids charity Brighton Cares.