The lights go out at troubled nightclub chain

The banks behind Luminar, the operator of 76 nightclubs, have decided to end the party and place it in administration. Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland called time on Luminar last night. This is despite Luminar saying as recently as 27 September that its trading had "stabilised", boasting a rise in like-for-like sales and an "encouraging" performance from its "Fuzzy Logic" students' nights during freshers' week. Luminar, which operates the Oceana and Liquid clubs, said it would be placed into administration shortly after trading in its shares were suspended yesterday. The three banks agreed to waive banking covenant tests in May, but Luminar failed to solve its debt burden.