A £1.5 million vodka bar is to open next year at an empty seafront venue in Brighton.

The Revolution bar will be one of the biggest of its type in the UK, catering for more than 950 people and offering up to 65 vodkas imported from 15 countries.

Magistrates have granted a liquor licence for the caf bar at the Aquarium Terraces in Brighton, which has stood empty since the development was completed more than three years ago.

Previous plans for nightclubs fell through.

Work will begin in January and it is hoped it will be finished by July.

Manchester-based Inventive Leisure, which runs vodka bars across the UK, successfully applied at Brighton Magistrates Court for a transfer of a licence for the site previously granted to nightclub operator Po Na Na.

The firm had won permission to open a club with strict conditions after objections from people living nearby but the plans were dropped after the firm went into administration in May.

Previously, Liverpool-based nightclub company Cream had unveiled and then scrapped plans to open at the two-level venue in Madeira Drive.

At the latest court hearing, Inventive Leisure told magistrates the venue would not operate as a nightclub, although there would be a small dancefloor.

It described the venue as a "sophisticated" caf bar.

Company director John McDonald said he intended to work closely with residents to ensure concerns about noise and disturbance were addressed.

He said: "We are very pleased to get the licence.

"We will be working very closely with the residents' groups to ensure we are seen as a trouble-free operation."

Brighton magistrates refused Po Na Na a late-drinks licence in August last year after hearing residents were concerned about an increase in late-night noise and disorderly behaviour.

The company appealed and was granted a licence at Lewes Crown Court in March.

That licence has now been transferred to Inventive Leisure, which must abide by its strict conditions.

These include a capacity of 1,040, closing at 1am, installing CCTV cameras and operating a phone hotline for residents to report problems.

Roy Skam, of the Sussex Society of Licensed Victuallers, said there were concerns about the bar but his organisation had not been able to object to the application because it was a transfer of a licence already granted.

He was disappointed the magistrates had granted the transfer, saying if the company had been forced to submit a new application, residents would have had the opportunity to object.

Dr Janie Thomas, secretary of the Kingscliffe Society, said she hoped the conditions won at the appeal hearing would be upheld by the operators.

She said: "Residents have had ample opportunity to comment on the use of a nightclub but not for a very large bar for 1,000 people."

Businesses already operating at the Terraces include an amusement arcade, Jim Thompson's restaurant and a Burger King outlet.

Inventive Leisure says the interior of the venue will be divided into different zones and will not feel like a club.

The two storeys will be divided, with large screens to create dining areas and lounging areas.

Godfrey Russell, the company's development manager, said: "We are not a nightclub or a super-pub. The design is very zonal."